


If You Dare

by mindchemicals



Category: My Chemical Romance
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, Conflict, Demonic Possession, Demons, Developing Relationship, Drama, Implied/Referenced Sexual Assault, Kidnapping, M/M, Mystery, Original Character(s), POV First Person, Supernatural Elements, Teen Angst, Teen Romance, Teenagers, Thriller
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-07-13
Updated: 2014-09-14
Packaged: 2018-02-08 16:04:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 38,870
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1947444
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mindchemicals/pseuds/mindchemicals
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Gerard is his owners' property. No one else see's him. No else knows he exists. He's kept hidden and for good reason. Frank should never have met Gerard. He should have stayed away from that house in the woods. Mikey shouldn't try to remember, nor should Gerard, but how could either forget? The past should be forgotten, but the past has some unfinished business.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

The violent shaking of the car rattled the boy’s body, throwing him side to side. Each impact of his body against on the side and back of the seat painted his skin in mottled red blotches. He tried to steady himself with his hands by moving them about in air and hoping to grasp onto anything that would cease the repetitive fiery outbursts of pain. However the thick black material that was tightly secured over his eyes and beginning to cut into the skin made this an almost impossible task.

The boy let out a deflated sigh, his head hung low and his body was left at will to the forces of the car. His raven black locks where so thick with dirt and grease that they did not fall with the downward movement of his head instead they stood tall and untamed, sticking out at wild angles. His body began to move about again, there was little that would hold him in place, he was deathly thin. His alabaster skin stretched over the bones that it concealed so tightly it appeared to be threatening to tear at any moment.

Unknowing what to do with his hands he allowed his frail fingers to toy with the silver ring that hung from a chain around his neck. He used his blunt dirty fingernails to trace the minuscule inscription engraved into the tarnished metal. M.W. It was almost a methodical and automatic movement now to trace those two letters. However torturous on his soul he always seemed to fall into a troublesome reminiscence. The images and emotions where always the same, all ignited by this simple movement of nail against metal and it never failed to leave him with the same nostalgic longing for the days before this nightmare began.

**-X-**

_“Gee! Gee! Watch this!,” a young dusty blonde boy ran in circles around a slightly larger black haired boy._   
_“Gee! Come on! Play!,” the blonde begged for his brother to join in his bodily acting out of the movements of an aeroplane. The elder let out a small chuckle watching his brother spin and whoosh around making vibrating noises with his lips and had his arms held out to the side to re-create the wings of a plane The blonde stopped his plane movements and pouted, grumpy with his brother for refusing to join in his high speed-high altitude adventure._

_“You’re no fun Gee…”_   
_“You want to play a game Mikey?” a dastardly smile etched onto the elder’s face._   
_The little boy’s face lit up with excitement and happiness, “YES! Yes please!”_   
_“Alright it’s called, RUN!”_   
_“Run? Why is it called ru-,” the older stopped the boy from speaking by attacking his small body with tickles._   
_“Gee! Gee! No! Stop!” the boy’s high pitched giggle echoed in between the trees._   
_“I told you to run, not my fault you didn’t listen,” he smiled releasing his brother from his grasp._

_The raven haired boy got to his feet pulling his brother with him. He helped Mikey dust the dirt from his jeans and fixed up his shirt that had been crinkled from the tickles. Mikey beamed at his older brother and wrapped his arms around his waist nuzzling his face into his stomach due to the height difference._   
_“Thanks Gee, love you.”_   
_“I love you too Mikey.”_   
_“Boys! Inside now!” A shrill cry escaped the open window of the house behind the pair._   
_The elder took hold of Mikey’s hand and led him into the house, sitting him down at the kitchen table. Two plates appeared before them each holding a sandwich and a biscuit._   
_“Thanks Ma,” he smiled at his mother who placed a small kiss on each boy’s cheek._   
_“Fanks Mah,” Mikey spoke with a mouthful of bread._   
_“Michael, no talking with your mouth full,” the salt and pepper haired woman scolded._   
_“Sorry Ma,” Mikey apologised his mouth now free of any food substance._   
_The woman just chuckled and placed a light kiss on the youngers forehead then smiling down at him, “finish your lunch Mikey.”_

_The two brothers sat in silence finishing off the last few bites of their sandwiches. The woman leaned against the counter sipping on a glass of icy lemonade watching her two sons. A light breeze fluttered in through the open window causing a few locks of stray to fall and obstruct her vision. By the time she had moved the hairs from her eyes the two boys had already disappeared from the kitchen. She let out a small sigh and began to busy herself with cleaning the plates that were left behind._

_Mikey ran through the empty halls towards the door leading out into the garden. His brother was close on his heel nearly catching him a few times. Both their giggles echoed off the pale white walls and rippled through the mostly empty house. Together they burst out the door stumbling and landing on the soft dewy grass. Mikey landed on his brother and curled into a ball from hysterics. The elder struggled to keep a straight face and burst into laughter alongside his brother._

_Screaming cut through their laughter. Silencing them. The elder sat up, pushing his brother off his body is the process. Mikey looked up at his brother, fear evident in his small innocent eyes._   
_“Gee, what was that?,” he asked tugging on his brothers arm._   
_“I don’t know Mikey, wait here I’ll go check.”_   
_“No! I don’t want to wait by myself.”_   
_“Mikey please.”_   
_“No Gee, I’m coming with you.”_   
_He let out a defeated sigh before pulling himself and the smaller boy to their feet. He grabbed hold of his brothers hand tightly and held him close._   
_“Stay next to me Mikey alright? Don’t let go of my hand, promise?”_   
_“I promise Gee.”_

_The two boys walked together. Their steps almost synched in time with one another. They entered the house. Another scream. The youngers grip tightened almost cutting the circulation in his brothers hand. Together they tip-toed down the hallway, avoiding the floorboards that creaked. Another scream. The older motioned for his brother to stay silent by placing a finger over his lips. They reached the kitchen. Neither dared to take the first step. The raven haired boy poked his head through crack in the doorway peering at the scene. Red. Everywhere. Everything. Red. Another scream. Then shouting. Male voices. Obscenities. Profanities. His body jolted backward. Hysterics ignited. He knocked into Mikey hitting his nose with his elbow. Mikey squealed in pain while blood began to gush out. The boy froze. There was silence._   
_Suddenly the door was ripped off its hinge. Both boys screamed. The scene was now visible. Red. Blood. Coating every inch of the kitchen. Their mother slumped over in the centre of the room. A pool of crimson surrounding her mutilated body._

_Mikey began to wail and sob, crying out for his mother, but never letting go of the older boy. The elder gripped tighter onto his brother, tears cascaded down his pale cheeks, he wanted so badly to join his brothers pained cries, but he couldn’t._

_A figure appeared in the doorway blocking the view of the kitchen. Burly and large, dirty and rough, he appeared to be male, but not human. His skin had a striking ripple of silver run through it when he moved. And his eyes, a piercing black that stared down at both boys._   
_The older only cared for one thing; his brothers safety._

_“Mikey, let go of my hand,” he growled through clenched teeth._   
_“But Gee you said not too,” Mikey sniffled._   
_“Let. Go.”_   
_“But Gee-“_   
_“LET GO!”_

_Mikey released his small hand from his brothers and began to cry again. The man moved an inch. He eyes the youngster whose snotty face was red and puffy from tears. A sickly grin formed on his face. He lunged toward the small boy. His brother sensing the man’s movement shoved Mikey over allowing the man’s grip to land on his shoulder rather than his brothers._   
_“Mikey run!” He yelled as he was pulled backward. The boy lay on the ground crying as he watched his brother be pulled away by this foreign man._   
_“MIKEY! RUN!”_

_Mikey shot to his feet and his brother watched as he ran down the hallway and dashed out the back door. Never once looking back. He watched his brothers small body disappear into the outside world. And then his world went black._

**-X-**

His body jolted upright as the car screeched to a halt. He blinked a few times before remembering the cloth over his eyes. He heard the grunt of a male as the door next to him was swung open and he was pulled from the car. He landed on the ground with a dull thud.  
Pine needles and dirt stuck into his calloused hands. The smell of wood and earth infiltrating his nostrils. A forest. They were in a forest this time. A nice house in the forest. Pleasant. He didn’t dare let himself smile at the thought of living practically within nature, but his mind was alight with joy. No more smoggy cities and filthy basements, just fresh air and open spaces.

“Get up!” a gruff voice demanded.

He began to shuffle to his feet when a hand gripped onto his hair and pulled him up involuntarily. The cloth was removed. The lurid light burned his eyes and he squinted trying to ease the fiery sting. He gained his vision slowly and gasped a little at what he saw. A house. A mansion really. Victorian era, dark almost black wood and black tile, with a turret to the side. It was slightly dilapidated and looked like the classic haunted house, but it could not be denied that is was beautiful in a distorted way.

“Stop gawking and start bringing in my things!” the man barked at the boy before storming off into the house.

The boy stared for just a moment longer to appreciate the grandeur he was viewing. The trees seemed to perfectly line the house, surrounding it in a perfect circle and looming over it, their limbs reaching out to grasp at the house.

He sighed and began to shuffle to the back of the car to unpack his owners’ things. There was box upon box all full of items that he would spend many an hour cleaning and dusting, only to be beaten for not doing it properly, and so he would do it again. He wrapped his frail hands around the first of many and began to lift it when a voice hit his ears. He’d never heard another voice other than his owners’ in years. He stopped and slowed his breathing so he could hear it better.  
“Frankie! Stop running! I can’t keep up with you!”  
“Oh come on Mikey, we’re nearly there just a little farther!”


	2. Chapter 2

**_"Ask me no questions, and I'll tell you no lies" - Oliver Glodsmith_ **

**_~*~_ **

“Frank! Frank wake up!”  
  
I ignored the shrill cry of my name and the demands that I remove myself from my slumber by burrowing underneath the comforter. My brain was still half asleep along with much of my body and even a simple movement such as rolling over seemed like a mammoth task that I was not ready to attempt. If only my mother was as apathetic as I. The loud thumps of her feet as she ascended the stairs scared me enough to encourage movement, but it was Sunday and I was damn well going to sleep in. My body tensed up as my bedroom door hit the wall and sent a loud bang through the room.  
  
“Frank Iero! Get out of bed now!” She practically screamed at me, obviously getting more infuriated with my disobedience.  
I let out a long groan and shuffled under the blanket, “A few more minutes.”  
“No, now, the Way’s are coming over for brunch and you need to be at least half functioning when they arrive.”  
“Ugh, fine.”  
“Good.”  
  
I heard material rustle and my door lightly click close signifying my mothers’ departure. I poked my head out from the comforter just to double check she had in fact left. Part of my fringe fell over my eyes blocking my view but there was no chiding for allowing my hair to get to such a  _‘despicable state’_  so I knew she was most definitely gone.  
  
I threw the comforter off my body allowing it to flutter momentarily before landing on the floor. I forced my arms up in the air and waited to hear the satisfying click of the bones awakening from their state of atrophy. My feet landed on the wooden floor with a small thud as I removed my body from my bed. My feet moved about the room in a slight rampage searching for clothes that didn’t give off too much of a noxious smell. Luckily for me and unfortunately for my mother and her high standards the only clean items left were ripped jeans and a raglan shirt. Not exactly the classy look for a Sunday brunch my mother would hope for, but it was only Mikey and his parents coming over; hardly prestigious guests.  
  
I dashed into the adjoining bathroom to do a quick check of my appearance; the odd red spot, greasy hair and bags underneath my eyes. Just the average teenage aesthetic. I ran my fingers through my hair trying to tame what I could of the wildness that sat upon my head, my fingers getting caught every so often on a knot.  
  
“Frank! Hurry up!”  
I rolled my eyes at the sound of my mothers’ voice. I love the woman but she knew how to get on my nerves.  
“I’m coming!” I called hoping my voice would be loud enough to travel through the bathroom, my bedroom and then down the stairs. There was nothing in return so I’m presuming it was. I had one final glance at myself in the mirror before rushing out of the bathroom. I had to doge piles of clothes and books that were strewn throughout my room before making it to the door and then down the stairs.  
  
I was met with the instantly indulgent but almost overbearing smell of coffee. Luckily my parents were almost, if not more, in love with the liquid than myself. I sat down across form my father at the breakfast bar in the middle of the kitchen. He smiled and slid a steaming mug across to me. I breathed in the scent that had become visible with the steam as it rose and coated my face in a moist sheath.  
  
I was just about to take my first sip when my mother skidded into the kitchen. Her hair had begun to frizz a little and her face was flushed red from her flustered attempt to look presentable. She had, since waking me from my sleep, changed into a pastel yellow summer dress with a white lace overcoat.  
  
“It’s brunch Linda, brunch with the neighbours, I think you’re overdoing it just a little,” my dad sighed a little placing his now empty cup onto the granite counter.  
  
I let out a small giggle as my mother’s face reddened even more, not from embarrassment, but from anger. My dad was straining to stifle his laughter, and although we may have been a little harsh on her, it was pretty funny.  
  
A small growl was heard from the back of my mothers’ throat, “You two could at least be on your best behaviour and at least put on something relatively decent,” she huffed before glaring at me, “Frank Anthony Iero, you have to wear nice clothes for a few hours and you can’t even manage that!”  
  
“It’s not my fault, they’re the only things left in my room that don’t reek of body odour and sweat,” I raised my hands in innocence.  
  
My mothers’ face contorted a little in disgust, “As soon as the Way’s leave you’re doing your laundry, no arguments.”  
“Bu-.”  
“No buts, now Frank help me set the table.”  
  
My dad and I glanced at one another before looking back at my mother, “Which Frank?,” we both spoke in unison.  
  
“Ugh forget it, I am not going through this kerfuffle over names like last time, I’ll set the darn table myself.”  
  
With that she half-stormed out of the kitchen. Dad and I just exchanged glances before bursting out into a fit of laughter.  
  
“We really shouldn’t be laughing, you know how worked up she gets about these dinner party things,” My dad tried to scold me whilst still smiling.  
  
“It’s only Mikey and his parents, I don’t understand what’s she fussing about.”  
  
“You know your mum, she likes to put on a nice display for guests, make things seem perfect, even though we are far from it, she’s always been like it.”  
  
I just shrugged in reply and took one last gulp of my coffee swallowing the small amount that was left. I hopped off the barstool and dumped my mug in the sink before wandering out of the kitchen. I tried my best to silently shuffle past the dining room as to not alert my mother of my presence. Just as I thought I was safe I heard her clear her throat.  
  
“Uh Frank, where do you think you’re going?” She raised an eyebrow at me.  
“To my room,” I replied nonchalantly.  
“Nice try, go wait at the door for the Way’s they’ll be here any minute.”  
  
I groaned in annoyance before slinking off in the opposite direction toward the front door. Damn my mother and her Sunday brunch. As soon as my body had rested against the door the cringe worthy cry of the doorbell echoed throughout the house. I don’t know why I bothered but as an instant reaction I swiped my hands over my jeans and shirt, trying to rid them of any invisible dirt or dust.  
  
I grasped the bronze handle and forced a smile before pulling wide open the door. Donna and Don Way were dressed in formal casual attire and carried a plate each, one with lemon tart and the other looked like a salad. I spotted the blonde top of Mikey’s head over their shoulder and allowed a genuine smile to replace my false one.  
  
“Morning Frank, how are you?” Donna smiled politely at me.  
“Morning, yeah everything’s alright, mum and dad are in the dinning room, go on through,” I smiled and moved to the side allowing them entry.  
They just nodded and sauntered off down the hallway disappearing through the doorway that led to the dinning room.  
  
Mikey stayed at the front door and just smirked at me.  
“What are you smiling at?” I asked nudging his shoulder playfully.  
“Oh nothing, just some rumours I heard floating around, things might start getting interesting in this shit hole town.”  
“What do you mean?”  
“Just wait, my mum won’t be able to refrain from talking about it and knowing your mum neither will she, trust me though, this is actually interesting, for once you might actually listen to your mum.”  
“Hey! I listen to her.”  
Mikey gave me a knowing look.  
“Okay, okay fine, so I don’t listen to her.”  
Mikey chuckled, “It doesn’t matter anyways, come on, we better get in there, my mum always gets all suspicious when I suddenly disappear with you.”  
“Why? Doesn’t she like me?”  
“Oh no it’s not that, it’s just-it’s not important, my mum is just making assumptions, don’t worry about it.”  
  
With that Mikey grabbed my wrist and pulled me along with him down the hallway. We joined my parents at the dinner table and sat across from one another. It wasn’t a moment later that my mother began dashing around placing plates piled with food in front of each person at the table. She then settled herself and insisted everyone eat at much as they like. Mikey and I just smirked at each other, eat as much as we like? We could manage that.  
  
The table was silent for the most part, only sound of cutlery scraping against porcelain created any noise in the room. At first it was a little disconcerting but I suppose it’s kind of hard to uphold conversation when everyone was stuffing their faces with food. Mikey and I were no exception. However after a pea from Don’s plate managed to make its way onto my father’s plate after an odd fork movement caused it to fly across the table, the pair plunged whole heartedly into a conversation about golf and how to achieve the perfect swing. It was the conversation sparked between our mothers’, however, that Mikey and I paid any attention too.  
  
“I couldn’t help overhearing the other day, these two ladies were having a conversation whilst I was getting my coffee, they were talking about the old manor, you know the one that was practically left to rot?,” Donna hushed a little and leant forward whilst talking to my mum.  
“Oh yes, but that house hasn’t had anyone near it for years, the wood would be rotten and falling to pieces by now, wouldn’t it?,” my mother replied pushing her now empty plate away from her.  
“Oh no, it was kept in very good condition, weathered yes, but liveable.”  
“I didn’t even know it was up for sale, who bought the place?”  
“I heard the two ladies say it appeared to be just a single male, early forties, but one swears they saw a boy in the car, around Mikey or Frank’s age as well.”  
“Hear that Frankie? Maybe you two could be friends!” I cringed as my mum smiled at me and used my nickname.  
“We’re seventeen mum, not seven,” I said putting my head in my hands.  
I heard my mum scoff a little before Donna started speaking once again.  
“That’s not it though, they said the boy had a blindfold on.”  
“A blindfold? What on earth for?”  
“Not sure, the man didn’t look anything like the boy apparently, the ladies said there was no way he was the father.”  
“It does seem rather odd that they would buy a run-down rotting manor in the middle of a forest, despite its condition I doubt it would have been cheap.”  
Donna nodded in response, and nothing more was said on the topic. Mikey raised an eyebrow at me with a suggestive smirk. I let my jaw hang a little slack, he was right, this is the most interesting thing that’s ever happened in this shit hole town.  
“Uh mum Mikey and I are going to go for a walk, we’ll be back before dark promise,” I said quickly pushing away from the table. Mikey stood as well. I went to grab his wrist but missed and took hold of his hand instead. Normally I would recoil as holding hands was not a part of our relationship but I was too concerned with getting out of the house.  
  
Mikey didn’t protest to being dragged through the house and out the front door but I could tell he wasn’t happy about it. I let go of his hand as we made it into the sidewalk and tucked my hands into the pockets of my jeans. I caught Mikey smiling slightly to himself in the corner of my eye, but didn’t mention it.  
  
The streets were silent and deserted, it was nearing midday and the sun made the air thick with warmth, however it was pleasant. Not the overbearing warmth that makes you sweat just by moving, but the comfortable nice warmth. The only sound that could be heard was our shoes scraping and scuffing against the concrete, there wasn’t even a bird chirping or siren in the distance to break through the painful quietness. We kept walking, and walking, I knew where I was heading, but decided to take the long way so that Mikey wouldn’t get suspicious and leave. As interested in the house as he was, he was beyond terrified, petrified even, of going near it. Just seeing it gave him the jitters and sent his anxiety skyrocketing. I was an asshole for forcing him to come along with me, but he only had himself to blame after getting me all excited about the new members of our small towns’ society.  
  
The houses and industrial aura started to subside as more and more trees began to come into view. Soon enough the concrete ended and grass began. The scraping turned into a light crunching noise as we stepped on dried grass and sticks.  
  
“Frank.” Mikey’s voice was stern.  
I admit; I am an asshole. What kind of friend takes their friend to the one place they know that they hate wholeheartedly and causes them to have extreme anxiety? Me, I do. Because I am an asshole.  
I smiled trying to ease some of the tension, “Yeah Mikes?”  
“Where are we going?”  
“Uh, just for a walk, nothing special, like we used to when we were little!”  
“Frank.”  
  
I cringed slightly and looked back at Mikey who had stopped walking. I hadn’t even noticed that we were now fully submersed in the forest. Trees loomed above and around us, the pine needles and limbs seemingly extending towards our, in comparison, small frames. It was dark too, substantially so. Almost all beams of midday sunlight were refused access beyond the canopy, making the floor of the forest eerily dark and the air thick and damp.  
Mikey stood with his arms crossed defiantly across his chest. He mouth was turned upside into a scowl and he looked pissed.  
  
“Okay, okay I am sorry, but we can’t just not investigate! Did you hear our mum’s, there is a kid our age with some random forty year old, doesn’t that spark your curiosity at least slightly?” I took a few steps toward Mikey and put on my best doe eyes and smile. He usually caved with the eyes, it was the only way I’d ever won an argument or got what I wanted with Mikey; doe eyes.  
  
“Don’t you dare go using those eyes on me Iero! I am so mad at you right now but all I want to do is hug you, god dammit Frank, why we are friends I will never know,” he uncrossed his arms and sighed loudly, “Fine, we will go and have a look, BUT just this once, then we leave and don’t come back….you know how much I hate this place.”  
I may have squealed a little bit too highly because Mikey nearly fell over when I engulfed his body in a tight hug, “Thanks Mikes, this is why we are best friends.”  
“What? Because you force me to do things I don’t want too with the use of your unnaturally cute eyes?”  
“Yep, pretty much.”  
  
Mikey groaned in annoyance before slumping forward and walking alongside me once again. The flora began to thicken with wild and untamed shrubbery taking over parts of the pathway and trees growing in every direction making passing through the needles slightly painful and very difficult. They got caught on our clothes and jabbed into every soft bit of flesh leaving mottling our bodies in red. I heard Mikey’s faint breathing begin to quicken as we grew closer to the manor. It may seem stupid to be afraid of a house, but Mikey honestly thought that it was cursed or haunted or something. He said he’d seem apparitions and phantasms lingering around the manor one night when he snuck out. He described them as white spectre’s that hovered around the front of the house, they were slightly opaque and had a misty fog outlining the bodily shapes. He said he one had begun to float towards him and he didn’t stay long enough to see anymore, he ran and he didn’t stop until he got home. I never believed him, but he didn’t know that. Mikey was never a liar, it was just the fantastical nature of the story that prevented me from taking any slice of truth from it. I was certain he must have dreamt it.  
I slowed my pace slightly so that I was beside Mikey. My arm slung around his shoulders and I let a grin creep onto my face.  
  
“Hey Mikey.”  
“Yeah?”  
“Race you?”  
“Frank, no.”  
“Too late!”  
“Frank!”  
I ignored Mikey’s calls as I let my feet take hold of my body. I allowed the cool air to run its fingers through my hair and caress my face whilst sticks and leaves snapped and crunched under my feet.  
“Frankie! Stop running! I can’t keep up with you!” Mikey called from a small distance behind me.  
“Oh come on Mikey, we’re nearly there just a little farther!”


	3. Chapter 3

**_"The reason I talk to myself is because I'm the only one whose answers I can accept." - George Carlin_ **

**_~*~_ **

I had to force me feet to stop when the foliage and trees thinned came to an abrupt stop. Mikey was still whining as he failed to pay any attention and crashed into the back of me. We both fell to the ground in a heap groaning from the force of the fall. Mikey rolled off me throwing more curses my way while I picked out the pine needles that had stuck into my skin.  
  
“Fuck you Frank, I’ve got a cut over my damn eyebrow! They’re going to be asymmetrical now!” Mikey grumbled before punching me in the arm.  
  
“Get a new pair of glasses to cover it up then, and don’t punch me, that actually hurt,” I may have been childish, but currently blood was seeping out from the holes in my hands and my arm really did hurt.  
  
Mikey scoffed a little and re-arranged his glasses tilting them a few times to make sure they were straight. He got on his knees and crawled forward so he was directly behind a thick shrub. I shuffled forward and kneeled next to him as he pulled the branches apart slightly and allowed us to have a perfect view of the house, minus the risk of being caught trespassing.  
  
I hadn’t been out to the house in a few years, Mikey never wanted to come out here, Ray was never available after school or on weekends to do anything with anyone and I was too, dare I say, afraid to come out here alone. Simple building or home to monsters and ghouls, either way this house was pretty fucking scary.  
  
It was rotted, or rotting, the wood was in pretty bad condition, and had a blackish tint to it. Same as the windows, they were filthy, thick with dirt, dust and grime and had a black tint disallowing anyone to see in. The roof tiles glimmered a little in the light and came up a gunmetal colour with streaks of silver. Any other distinct feature of the house was either covered in moss or ivy that had begun to strangle the wooden beams or was in such a dilapidated condition that details were undeterminable. And yet, despite all these flaws and obvious elements that would cause anyone to turn up their nose in disgust all I wanted to do was get closer. I wanted run my fingers over the dampness of the moss, let the small flecks on paint crumble and disintegrate with my touch as my hands slid along the wood and watch the heat of my breath form a smoky precipitate on the tar black of the windows.  
  
Mikey’s hushed words brought me out of my momentary daydream, “Did you see that?.”  
I looked at Mikey in utter confusion – oh no, he’s not seeing ghost again is he?  
“What are you talking about Mikey?”  
“The car, you see it, of course you it, it’s in front of the damn house you can’t miss it. Look underneath the car.”  
  
I won’t admit I was happy to oblige but I looked nonetheless. I looked under the car and could see a pair of feet and legs that stood on the other side of the car, blocked from our view.  
“There’s a person there…?” I waved my hands a little telling Mikey to finish the sentence, since I didn’t have a clue what the problem was. We were hidden behind the shrubbery, we were safe.  
“Sometimes I worry about your intellectual ability Frank. There’s a person there, and we just fell over making a shit load of noise, they would have heard us.”  
  
My face fell a little, oh shit, if get caught we can be prosecuted for trespassing or worse these people could be crazy, they could shoot us. Wouldn’t be the first time someone was shot in this town for being an ‘intruder’. “Oh, alright, not to worry, we just need to stay still and silent. Don’t move. Don’t make a sound.”  
Mikey nodded and we both turned back in complete silence to look through the small hole in the foliage we had made for viewing.  
  
The person blocked from our view remained unmoving, that was until the front door of the house swung open and a loud crack echoed through the leaves as wood connected with the brass door knocker. A tall figure emerged from the shadows of the house and stepped into the light on the front porch. He was dressed in a highly formal black suit and had long raven hair. Mikey and I simultaneously froze as we watched him descend the few steps that led from the porch. His skin made us both hold our breath. It rippled with silver as the light reflected from all angles.  
  
“What the fuck?” Mikey breathed out almost silently.  
  
The man’s face soon contorted into a twisted scowl and, even from our distance, the animalistic growl erupting from the back of his throat could be heard. He thundered toward the person hidden from us and we noticed that they were no longer standing, they had fallen to the ground and were kneeling. A bloodcurdling scream ripped through the silence and the body jolted upward. Finally the person was revealed.  
  
A boy. No more than 18, if that. Deathly thin, a sickening pallor coating all exposed skin. The older male cursed and growled at the boy of whom he was dragging up the stairs, his hand gripping tightly in the wild stands of ebony hair atop the boys’ head. Only fragments of what was being said made it to my earshot.  
  
 _“Pathetic….Worthless….Ignoramus….Parasitic…..I Regret The Day I Took You,”_  I forced myself to stop listening.  
  
The boy was now facing directly at us. With each word his face would sporadically contort with displeasure, pain, acknowledgment and even a small moment of acceptance of the maliciousness that was infecting his mind. If Mikey hadn’t gripped onto my upper arm, I would have ran forward, screaming with rage, ready to take great pleasure in the pained writhing body of the monster that held the boy. Soon the darkness of the house encased the pair. The pained cries of the boy silenced with the slamming of the wooden door.  
  
My jaw hung slack and before I knew it my body was already beginning to shuffle forward. Pine needles and dirt covered my hands but I was to entranced to even notice. A hand on the back of my neck swiftly pulled my body back and the air was knocked out of me as I hit the ground and landed on my back.  
“Frank! What the fuck dude! We need to get out of here, like now!” Mikey leaned over my body and hissed at me.  
“We-he-hurt-help-he needs help,” I stumbled over my words as I tried to fully fathom what I had witnessed.  
  
Mikey grabbed my shoulders and heaved my up onto my feet whilst still fuming at me, “Are you crazy!? That guy, that thing, whatever he was had silver skin, silver fucking skin, and a short temper, he was crazy, mental, psychopathic! You saw what he did to that boy! God knows what he’d do to us, we need to go, we need to get out of here and never, EVER come back!”  
Mikey began to storm off in the direction from which we came. I didn’t move until Mikey took hold of my arm and forcefully pulled me alongside him.  
  
I noticed his bottom lip was trembling and his hands shaking as we walked together in an eerie silence. I bit my lip in anxiousness, despite his tough exterior I think Mikey was more afflicted by what just happened then I was.  
  
“M-Mikey are you alright?” I whispered, afraid that if I was any louder he would shatter with my words.  
“I don’t want to talk about it,” his voice cracked, he was on the verge of tears.  
“Mikey, please,” I stopped walking as I begged, “What’s wrong?”  
Mikey stopped a few steps ahead of me and let out a pained sigh, “Something happened, when the boy screamed. I-I don’t know, but I was filled with a sense of familiarity? No, remembrance? Oh god, I don’t know, but it was like déjà vu. Like I had already experienced that whole scene before, I can’t explain it, but I know I’ve seen, or heard that before…a dream, a memory…I can’t tell.”  
“Mikey I-.”  
“Don’t Frank, really, just don’t. I need to go home, I need to think about this, something isn’t right with that house, and now those people-I just-I just need to think.”  
With that Mikey turned away from me and ran, I didn’t even consider stopping him. His figure disappeared through the branches before the crunch of his footsteps subsided and I was left in silence. Maybe Mikey hadn’t lied about that dream…  
  
I thrust my hands into the pockets of my now filthy jeans and played with the small loose strands from the lining. I continued onward along the small path my feet cracking the crisp leaves broke the deafening silence encasing my body. I couldn’t erase the image of the boys anguish from my mind, I could have sworn I saw a tear cascade down his cheek, maybe it was a trick of the light. The malicious sting of the man’s words seemed to hang in air, constantly being whispered into my ears “ _I Regret The Day I Took You.”  
_  
Took you? What does the mean? True, they didn’t look related, but that doesn’t mean he _stole_  the boy, does it? No, impossible, you can’t just steal children and get away with it these days, the police would have caught up with him by now, there’s no way that he wouldn’t have been caught.  
  
My thoughts had been too overbearing on my mind that I failed to realise I had left the confines of the forest. The early afternoon sun wrapped its warmth around my slightly icy body. My shoes scraped slightly against the concrete, once again the streets were scarce of any forms of life. Not even children were out playing with one another.  
  
It was then that the metaphorical light-bulb ignited in my perplexed subconscious. School. The boy had to go to school. And, as there was only one school, which was so small and cramped it was nauseating, I would have to run into him at some point. He didn’t look like much of the conversationalist, so I guess I would have to run a few miles away from my comfort zone and a start a conversation with a complete stranger. It can’t be that hard, right? I mean people do it all the time, they have no problems, so I should be fine…should be.  
  
 **-X-**  
  
Three days. Three whole days of internal conflict, minor panic attacks and bursts of anxiety every time I stepped through the glass doors that led to the underworld, or school as its better known. The boy never turned up or if he did he was extremely talented at going unnoticed. Then again, it’s easy to fade away and go unnoticed in this school, unless your loud and overbearing you slip through the cracks and are mostly left to your own devices. Which I am not going to complain about. I may have Mikey and Ray to keep me company, but sometimes the unrequested ignorance to my existence was quite pleasant.  
  
Mikey was back to his normal self, he hadn’t mentioned anything about what happened, and I hadn’t pestered him about it either. We respected each other’s privacy, and had done so since we met, however we both knew that we would have to talk about it sooner or later. Mikey was hiding something and my business or not I wanted to know what it was. Unfortunately I doubted the doe eyes would work in this situation.  
  
The slap of metal as I shut my locker door echoed through the empty hallway. Everyone would be either in the cafeteria or outside by now, laughing and cackling with their friends as they talked about the latest episode of whatever TV show entranced their attention for long enough. I huffed as I sauntered along the generic white linoleum flooring avoiding the scattered pieces of rubbish and unidentifiable substances smeared on the ground. Teenagers really were animals when it came to cleanliness, at least here they were.  
  
I made my way out the back of the rusty coloured brick building and found Ray and Mikey seated in ‘our spot’ under the only willow tree on the school grounds. It was the perfect spot really, the branches hung low and so encased us with a shelter of leaves that almost hid us completely. We found the tree freshman year when we were trying to hide from a few juniors who took the liberty to beat us senseless because Mikey had a Star Wars shirt on. Ray and I probably didn’t help our cause much as he was wearing an Iron Maiden shirt and I a Green Lantern one. I thought we looked fine, but the juniors didn’t seem to agree with our sentiments.  
I moved a few hanging branches and leaves out of my way as I stepped into the green enclosure. Mikey was laying on his stomach flicking through a comic while Ray sat against the tree munching away at a sandwich.  
  
Ray stopped chewing and smiled at my presence, “Hey Frank.”  
Mikey looked at me and smiled too, “Hey.”  
I dropped to the ground and landed on the grass with a dull thud, “Hi.”  
Mikey presumed reading, Ray presumed chewing. It wasn’t an awkward silence, but it was uncomfortable.  
  
Maybe Ray had seen the boy? Mikey and I hadn’t told him about it yet, but he was our best friend so he did deserve to know.  
“Hey, Ray, have you seen a new kid around here? Average height, longish black hair, really, really pale?” I asked as he dusted crumbs from his sandwich off his jeans.  
He bit his lip a little in thought, “Hmm, uh no can’t say I have. We usually get told if a new student starts and I haven’t heard anything, why?”  
Mikey shot his head in my direction, “We haven’t talked about this Frank.”  
“Exactly, that’s why I am telling Ray, he deserves to know what we saw, don’t you want him to know?”  
“I-no, I mean I don’t care if Ray knows, it’s just we haven’t even discussed it yet.”  
“You never came to me, I assumed you didn’t want to talk about it.”  
Mikey shrugged and sat up, crossing his legs and shuffling closer. He gesticulated for me to continue with my story.  
  
“Alright, so Ray, you heard about the new people that moved into that old house in the forest right?”  
Ray nodded fervently, his curls bouncing slightly.  
“Well Mikey and I went and had a little ‘inspection’ of the house and you won’t believe what we saw, there was this guy, he would have been early forties maybe dragging this kid, our age, into the house by his hair. The kid was screaming and he was in obvious pain, that’s why I wanted to know if you’d seen him, I assumed he would turn up at school.”  
Ray’s jaw had dropped a little, “whoa,” he breathed out. “Maybe he’s home schooled?”  
Mikey pondered the statement for a moment, “that would make sense, buy a house in a secluded location, home school your kid – it’s like they don’t want anyone to know they exist.”  
“I don’t think that boy was his son, remember when he said “I regret the day I took you”, took, he took that boy, there is something not right with the whole situation, maybe we should go to the police?”  
“NO!” Ray burst out a little defensively, “I mean, we don’t know all the facts, what if you heard wrong, or got the wrong idea, we can’t just assume the worst.”  
Mikey nodded his head in agreement, “Ray’s right, we can’t just make assumptions, we should just forget about what we saw, it’s not our problem and let’s keep it that way.”  
  
I was almost shocked, how can someone, especially Good Samaritan Mikey so easily turn his back on someone who needed help? It was obvious that boy was in danger, and needed someone to do something because he obviously had no power over that beastly man that had  _taken_  him. I decided that with or without Ray and Mikey’s help I would do something, I had to do something.  
  
The boy was just so helpless, so alone, so afraid. He had a defiance to him, something alluring and intoxicating about his aura yet he was being subject to such mistreatment. He was obviously abused, and starved, his bones were visible through the pasty white of his complexion. And, his eyes, hey were sunken and dark, but glimmered when the light hit them in the right spot.  
  
I was taken aback at how much detail I had put into the boy’s appearance. I couldn’t have possibly noticed all that in the small time that I saw him, I mean he was so far away after all. But I did notice. I noticed and more importantly remembered these little and commonly overlooked and unnoticed features of his person.  
  
“Frank, Frank!” Mikey shook my shoulders pulling me out of my tranced state.  
“Huh, what?”  
“You’re not planning on going back to that house are you?”  
I avoided making eye contact and kept silent.  
“Frank I am being dead serious here, don’t you dare go back, he could be anything! A sadist, a psychopath, is he got his hands on you who know what he could do. Stay away from that house. You understand me?”  
I sighed, “yes Mikey, I understand,” my face was deadpan but subconscious was smirking as I let the lie slip off my tongue, “I won’t go back, I promise.”  
I was going back. I was going back as soon as I could.


	4. Chapter 4

**_“Man is not what he thinks he is, he is what he hides.” - Andre Malraux_ **

**_~*~_ **

The wind lightly brushed stray hairs from my face as I clutched my coat closer to my body. The temperature had dropped to unseasonably cold from the time we had had lunch to now, the end of school. I stuck to my side of the footpath and kicked the occasional stray piece of gravel or rock that happened to be in my path. Mikey and Ray would usually be accompanying me on my journey home but since our hefty conversation at lunch I hadn’t seen either all day. Fair enough they were slightly mad at me and my insisting to go back to the manor but that hardly justified ignoring me completely. Mikey was uneasy with the subject, maybe I pushed a little too far.  
  
“Frank!”  
I stopped moving and spun on my heel at the sound of my name. Ray was running along the sidewalk towards me looking very, well, pissed. He made it to my side puffing and bent over to catch his breath.  
“Hey Ray what’s up?”  
  
He glared daggers at me, “don’t ‘what’s up’ me, did you say anything else to Mikey while I wasn’t there?”  
  
“What? No, I haven’t seen Mikey since lunch, why?”  
  
“Because he left school early and won’t reply to any of my texts or answer my calls, god dammit Frank, you really fucked him up, you know that? You knew how much he hated the house and yet you took him there anyways and now I have no idea where he is, if he’s safe, he could be locked in a locker for all I know!” Ray was red and fuming by this point, and I’d be lying if I wasn’t anticipating him to punch me at any point.  
  
“Ray I think you need calm down, Mikey will be fine, he was fine at lunch plus I promised I wouldn’t bring it up again, and he’s too tall to fit in the lockers so you don’t need to stress out about it.” I tried my best to raise my hands in a soothing gesture, but Ray was seething by the time I stopped talking.  
  
“Frank! This isn’t a joke! I need to know where Mikey is and if he’s okay, if something happened to him I’ll kill you!” Ray shoved me, and due to the size difference I stumbled backwards nearly falling.  
  
I growled at him before shoving him back, “What the fuck man! Don’t fucking shove me! Mikey is fine, what are you his fucking boyfriend!?”  
  
“I’m his fucking friend and acting like a friend should! By caring about him and his feelings, unlike you who doesn’t give a shit about anyone else but yourself. You knew! You fucking knew about how sensitive Mikey is, he still hasn’t completely healed from losing his family when he was little and the you decide to traumatise him a little more for your own gain! You’re an insensitive piece of shit Frank Iero and I will make it my mission to keep you from hurting Mikey again, unless you already have in which case you better wish we’d never met, because I will fucking destroy you, do you understand!?” Ray snarled at me.  
  
Fuck this. Fuck him. I refused to cower at his empty threats. “Fuck you Toro, you’re being a total ass, what the fuck has gotten into you? Mikey is fine and you’re acting like a bitch. Leave me alone. I’m done with this conversation. You can’t just take Mikey away from me. That’s not your decision to make. I don’t have time for your empty threats and bullshit, see you later Ray.” I spat at him before turning away and heading in the direction of my house.  
  
I trudged along the footpath keeping my eyes set to the ground. A stinging sensation tingled my eyes and I could feel my bottom lip begin to quiver. No, no way in hell was I going to let Ray make me cry. I wasn’t an insensitive piece of shit, I knew Mikey had a rough upbringing and that he’s sensitive, but I didn’t purposely taking him out to the house to upset him, I just wanted someone to be with me whilst I was there. I was just as afraid as he was, I just didn’t let it show.  
No matter how hard I fought a few tears managed to leave a warm trails down my cheeks. I must have looked like a mess; a teenage boy stomping along the sidewalk nearly bursting into incoherent sobbing mess. No doubt the small amount of eyeliner I had applied this morning was running down my face perfectly complementing my puffy eyes and red cheeks.  
Fucking Ray. This was his fault. Being the overprotective piece of shit he was. Mikey was fine. Mikey was just having a cry over something that didn’t even matter, being an emotional wreck as per usual.  
  
I stopped as my breath hitched in the back of my throat. How could I even think that? Ray was right. I’m an insensitive piece of shit who cares about nothing but himself. Ray never did anything wrong, this wasn’t his fault…he was just taking care of Mikey, just taking of me, just doing what Ray always does, which is always the right thing. And Mikey, how dare I even let those thoughts grace me subconscious. Mikey’s lost his family, he’s happy with his adopted parents but they’ll never be his real mum and dad, and he’ll never get his brother back, no wonder he takes things to heart. I’m just an asshole that used malleable and sweet caring nature to get him to do what I want. Now I let the tears fall. There was no need to hold them back. I’ve fucked up, fucked up big time.  
  
At least neither will reprimand nor be mad at me anymore than they are now if I were to break the promise and go back to the house. I’ve nothing to lose, if there is a psychotic killer living there that does decide my time on earth is up, well perhaps it’s for the best. Not like Ray or Mikey would care, right?  
  
I shoved the front door open and thundered through the hallway making a beeline for my bedroom. I kept my head down, vision focused on my feet, my mother would be relentless if she caught a sight of me. The last thing I wanted right now was her over nurturing. My still shoe clad feet tripped and caught on the carpeted floor causing my body to thump against the walls. I heard a few high pitched calls come from the kitchen but ignored them, if I could just speed up a little I’d be able to make it past the kitchen without an intervention from my mother.  
I was almost tempted to laugh as my vision suffused with amaranth, I should be so lucky my mother wouldn’t catch me. Her lanky arms wrapped tightly around my shuddering frame, my tears dampening her dress that blinded my vision with amaranth and near suffocated me. He cooed softly in my ear whilst patting my hair soothingly.  
  
“Frank, Frankie love what’s wrong?” She whispered not releasing the embrace.  
My sobs quickened and though half incoherent I tried to force out the words, “I-I’m s-sorry mum.”  
“Sorry? Sweetie, what are you sorry for?”  
“F-for b-being me,” I wailed clinging onto my mother a little more tightly.  
My mother sighed but didn’t loosen her hold on my shuddering frame, “come on, I think you need to have a sleep, we can talk about this later, yeah?”  
  
I sniffled and nodded allowing my mother to guide me through the house and to my bedroom. She helped me out of my jacket and jeans leaving me in my boxers and t-shirt before placing me on the bed and pulling the covers over my body. She left a tender kiss on my forehead before leaving my room muttering something that I didn’t quite catch. I left my eyes closed and didn’t bother to try and pry then open. A seventeen year old boy comes home crying and allows his mother to get him ready for bed like a child. Forget feeling pathetic, I was pathetic.  
  
I woke up to total darkness except for the green burst of luminescence next to my bed reading 2:06am. Guess mom and I never got around to having that ‘chat’. Not that she wouldn’t bombard me with questions eventually, but evading it for a few hours was better than nothing. My eyes had nearly wholly adjusted to the darkness of the room and there was no way I was going to get back to sleep now. I didn’t have to be awake for school for a another 5 hours, but a bonus of last night was that feigning sick and getting the day off would be easier than usual.  
Despite working on my cough and snotty nose charade for my mothers’ appearance at exactly 7am, my brain was shuffling through the past week bringing up moments in unorganised fragments. Rays shouting. Mikey’s distress. That house. The boy. Everything always came back to the boy. His eyes. His anguish. His hair. How small and fragile yet menacing he looked. I shot up and tossed the blankets to the side. I had to go back. I had to go back now. My feet found their way into a pair of shoes and I found my jacket from earlier as well as some pants. Creeping around late at night without pants would not look good on my behalf, especially if I ran into unwanted company.  
  
I considered leaving the house the conventional way; through the front door. But it wasn’t worth the risk if one of my parents was awake for some unbeknownst to me reason. They may not be violent but in a bad mood, especially with me, the pure terror and violence in their voices was enough to cover me with metaphorical emotional bruises. Quite the contrast to their usually delicate and caring nature, but everyone has their vices, my parents was their temper. My vice was my inability to do what I was told and/or what is considered the ‘smart’ thing to do. An example of this was the fact that I was clinging for dear life to a rusty pole sliding down the side of the house. Definitely not the smart thing to do.  
  
My feet hit the ground will a dull thud. And before even considering climbing back up I ran. My jacket flapped behind me making me look like a vampire wearing a cape running through the streets. Which was pretty badass, but not exactly the look I was going for. I made it a few blocks before stopping and bending over trying to regain my breath. I looked ahead of me and saw the houses stop and the black mass take up the majority of the navy sky. My breathing slowed and the small noises of the night pricked at my ears, crickets, cicadas, footsteps. Wait. Footsteps. My breath hitched as I turned. There was an unmistakable movement next to a car across the street from me. Fuck. Was someone following me the whole time? How did I not notice?  
  
Forgetting my fatigued state I began to move away from the person. I made no effort to hide myself and apparently they decided that secrecy wasn’t required. As I began to run along the sidewalk they emerged from their hiding spot and ran after me. The light footsteps from before turned into heavy slaps against the concrete. Nerves pulsed through my body and fear controlled my movements. I didn’t dare look back, but I knew they were gaining on me. I heard their laboured breathing get louder and heavier. Through some inexplicable force of nature I forced myself to go just that little bit quicker causing a growl to emit from the person behind me. There was something familiar about the light huskiness of the voice…I could have sworn it sounded like-no, it wasn’t him. Don’t be stupid Frank, why would he be out at this time of night and following you? Idiot.  
  
Nevertheless I continued running, and didn’t stop to look back even once. If I could just make it to the forest, then I’d be okay. Not even a petty thief, whom I’m assuming was chasing me, would follow me in there at night. If you got lost you’re practically dead, unless you’re adapt at surviving in the forest without water, which majority of people aren’t – me included. But I knew where I was going, well I knew the general direction.  
  
The breathing behind me along with the footsteps slowed to a near stop as the footpath ended. I didn’t risk taking a glance to make sure they had completely stopped. The first branch clasped onto my jacket and was followed by numerous others. Bony fingers gripping and wrapping around me, swallowing my body and thrusting it into the pitch black. Another perfect example of my stupidity was my failure to bring a torch. All I had to rely on was my sense of direction and touch. Straight ahead. I just had to stay straight, if I could manage that then I’d be at the house in no time.  
  
My hands ran lightly over the coarse bark of the trees as I steadied myself with each step. I tried to feel around making sure there wasn’t a ditch or a mound along the trail but with the debris and leaf litter coating the ground it was hard to differentiate between a log and a pile of dirt. Sticks jarred into the soft flesh of my stomach and arms leaving tiny scratches and cuts that stung when irritated with movement. A few of the higher sharper branches slashed along my cheeks and forehead leaving gashes leaking blood down my face. How I was going to explain this to mum and dad I had no idea, make-up would only help so much, but I’d worry about that later. Right now despite the stinging in sporadic bursts across my body and the stickiness of blood to complement it was the least of my worries.  
  
It seemed as the though the person from before had indeed given up in following me. Not worth getting lost to mug a kid, I suppose. Not that I had anything worth stealing, except my clothes if they were desperate. I shuddered at the thought of being left naked and beaten in the middle of the street all over a little bit of money, it had happened before, they guy left town as soon as he recovered. I would have too if I were him.  
  
A floating orb of glowing golden light made me quicken my pace. The house. Although I wasn’t sure why someone would be awake at this hour, it was nearly 3am after all, on a weeknight. Not that it mattered why they were awake but it did make me a little more jittery about being caught. Mikey was right about a lot of things; hopefully  _psychopath occupying house in forest_  wasn’t one of them.  
  
I crept into the position Mikey and I shared a few days beforehand and huddled behind the shrub that concealed my presence. The house definitely looked a hell of a lot more menacing in the dark with only the pale yellow glow of lights from inside to illuminate it. Shadows were cast around the irregular wooden beams and metal shaping of the windows leaving eerie figure like formations to be projected onto the empty space surrounding the house. Maybe that’s what Mikey saw, shadows, not ghosts, that would make a lot more sense. But no one was inhabiting the house when it happened, unless someone was living here all along just nobody knew about them.  
  
The squeak of metal hinges brought my attention from the shadow shapes and toward the front door. It flew open with great force and the man with silver skin’s silhouette appeared in the doorway. I couldn’t see any feature on his face but I could hear his heavy breathing; he was fuming at something or someone. My heartbeat instantly sped up and pounded in my ears at the thought he may have seen me. I tried to calm my body but instead shook even more violently. I clenched my eyes shut and waited for the encroaching footsteps to seal my fate.  
  
“Gerard!”  
  
I froze. Wait, that’s not me. I released the hold on my eyelids and peeked toward the house. A moment of silence before the boy shuffled from the light of the house and became a silhouette next to the older man.  
  
“Yes, Sir?” His voice was effeminate but still somehow held onto a masculine raspy undertone.  
  
“Go get more firewood, chop it up and then re-kindle the fire,” the man spat into the youngers face and pushed him out of the doorway and onto the porch. The boy fell with a small thump onto his knees. “Now!” he barked a final order before kicking the boy down the few stairs as he tried to stand.  
  
I had to grip onto a stray branch to stop my body from rushing to the boys’ aid. The man disappeared into the house and slammed the door close. I stopped my breathing and listening to the small whimpers as the boy tried to stand once more. He fumbled to push his body up onto his knees and sit back on his feet. He sniffled. Crying, was he crying? I felt guilt rush through my body pricking every nerve, I could have done something, I should have done something, instead I let him get kicked down the stairs. His body wobbled as he moved to his feet. I knew he’d just fall again and again until he hurt himself even more then he already was. I shot to my feet and rushed over catching his limp body moments before it hit the ground.  
He sunk into my hold around his shoulders and waist and let out a sigh of relief, or defeat, I wasn’t sure which one. As quickly as he relaxed he tensed up. His eyes flew open and he looked at me in pure shock. A small gasp escaped his lips as he fought against my grip, slapping me in the face a few times and sending us both tumbling down the small incline. Sticks and rocks stabbed at my body and broke the skin until we finally stopped tangling in a shrub; the very same one I was hiding behind. Our bodies were intermingled and knotted with one another, limbs and torn pieces of clothing jagging onto limbs of foliage.  
  
I groaned hoisting myself up on my elbows and looked across at the boy who was almost mimicking my actions. He brought his hand to the back of his head and rubbed it before removing a stick that was tangled in his messy raven locks. He seemed to momentarily forget my presence but soon remembered why he had rolled down the small hill in the first place. His eyes locked onto mine and widened in fear before he scrambled backwards recoiling from me.  
  
I raised my hands in a soothing manner, “hey, hey, calm down, it’s okay, I’m not going to hurt you.”  
  
His breathing calmed a little but he didn’t move an inch, “who-who are you, what a-are you doing-g h-here?” He whispered as he spoke, obviously afraid he would get caught. We were far enough away from the house, there was no way the man could hear us.  
  
“I’m Frank, I uh, I came to see if you were okay, I saw the other day when you arrived, what he did to you.”  
  
“It’s not any different than normal, why do you care, how did you find us? You shouldn’t be here, if he catches you…” His eyes darted around as he spoke.  
  
“I care because he can’t treat you like that, I found you because I like to snoop, and what will happen if he catches me? What else does he do to you?” I inched closer to the boy and tried to use my doe eye technique to pry the information out of him. He didn’t move away, so I took that as a sign he was a little more comfortable.  
  
“He can, and he does, no one can stop him. And if he catches you he’ll do the same, maybe even worse, please Frank you need to leave, go, go now!” He pleaded with me trying to push my body away from the direction of the house.  
  
“I’m not going anywhere until I get some answers.” I huffed and crossed my arms.  
  
“No, no you have to go, please he’ll hurt you, he’ll hurt me, just leave, don’t come back, forget you ever saw me. He’s going to be so mad…” The boy wrapped his arms around himself and began to cry silently, “please, please just go.”  
  
“Not until you tell me your name.”  
  
He sniffled, “G-Gerard, now please go.”  
  
I smiled and got to my feet, helping Gerard along with me, “I’m coming back. Same time, tomorrow.”  
  
“NO!” Gerard raised his voice and grabbed onto my shoulders, “don’t you dare come back here.”  
  
“I’m coming back, same time tomorrow, make sure you’re here or I’m knocking on that front door and facing whatever wrath comes my way.”  
He sighed and didn’t say another word. I took that as a yes.  
  
“Same time, same place, I’ll see you tomorrow Gee.” I grinned at my little nickname and turned away from the Gerard. I heard him sigh again before I ran off and the darkness swallowed me from his sight.


	5. Chapter 5

**_“You never know what will save you.” ― Abbey Wilson_ **

**_~*~_ **

The glare of the lights against the white linoleum made the back of my eyes ache as I staggered down the empty hallway. Each step echoed around me and not a single sound was there to intercept it. No teachers, no students, no anybody. I wouldn’t be here either, I shouldn’t be here but _mother dearest_ insisted I retrieve my homework after I  _“sat around and did nothing all day”_  at home. I was  _sick_ , what did she expect me to do? Go for a run? Fuck that. I was  _recovering_  and movies and books were all part of the healing process. Besides I never got back to sleep once I returned home, and I was hardly able to form a coherent sentence let alone do anything productive - even caffeine wasn’t helping.  
  
I hit a T intersection and swiftly turned left around the corner, fully expecting to see yet another deserted tunnel of white. I halted as I stared down the hallway. This one wasn’t empty, as I had expected, as I had hoped. A figure stood at my locker fumbling around with the lock. His head and half his face was covered with a tangled mess of blonde hair and from the small glint of light as he moved it was evident he had piercings adorning his ears and face.  
“Fuck!” the boy growled before smashing his fist against my locker.  
  
I began to hastily move forward as he continued to hit my locker, obviously getting more and more angry. What was he doing at my locker anyways? Looking for something? Unless he wanted some dishevelled text books he wasn’t going to find much.  
  
“Hey!” I called slightly irritated with the dents he had made in the metal, “What are you doing? That’s my locker.”  
  
The boy jumped a little with my voice and stared at me as the colour dripped away from his face. He backed away from the locker and held his hands up in innocence, “I-I’m sorry m-man, p-please, d-don’t hurt me-e.”  
  
I stood in shock as the boy began to cave in on himself and pled for mercy. His body was trembling and small whimpers began to escape his lips. I slowly stepped closer to him and placed a light hand on his shoulder.  
  
“Hey, hey, dude calm down, I’m not going to hurt you, I was just wondering why you were beating my locker.” I spoke softly trying to sooth the stranger out of their small panic attack.  
  
The boy moved his hands from their defence position and moved some of the hair away from his face. He looked up at me and half smiled. I was a little taken aback by the boys’ eyes; they were the most incandescent mix of every shade of blue swirled together in a mesmerising monochrome. They were the kind of eyes you wanted to just look at purely for the sake of looking at them.  
  
I grinned at the boy trying to hide my momentary staring, “I come in peace, promise.”  
  
“I’m sorry about your locker, I thought it was mine, I haven’t had the best day I got a little frustrated when it wouldn’t open,” he straightened himself up and regained some confidence.  
  
“It’s okay man, I’m Frank, today your first day here? I haven’t seen you around before.”  
  
“Bob,” he held out a hand for me to shake, I was a little confused for a moment, shaking hands isn’t usually the norm when teenagers introduce themselves to one another, “and yeah, today was my first day. I was sort of hoping this school would be different from my last, but I haven’t had the best of luck yet,” a heavy sigh escaped his lips.  
  
“What do you mean?”  
  
“It’s nothing really, I was asking this guy with glasses for directions then one of his friends with and afro shoved me into the lockers and told me to back off. I don’t know what his problem was, all I was doing was asking where my classroom was.”  
  
I stood agape for a moment, it was clear he was talking about Mikey and Ray, but Ray shoving a kid for talking to Mikey? Impossible, Ray had been bullied himself, never would he impose such treatment upon another. But then again never did I think he would ‘ban’ me from seeing Mikey.  
  
“Did he say anything else?”  
  
“Nope, just glared at me and left, I’ve decided to ignore him or avoid him at least, last thing I need in an enemy at this school.”  
  
I looked at the boy before me, he looked menacing yet helpless at the same time, “well it seems as though the star have aligned for us both. The boy with the glasses was Mikey and the one with the afro was Ray, they are-were my best friends. You can sit with me at lunch tomorrow if you want? I’ll admit I’m not the best company, but to be honest you don’t seem like the excessive conversationalist so that won’t be a problem.”  
  
Bob let out a small laugh, “thanks, conversation or no conversation, anything is better than sitting alone.”  
  
I nodded my head in agreement and smiled. Ray may no longer be in friendly relations with me, and I have no idea where Mikey and I stand, but Bob and I seemed to get along well enough. Perhaps things were going to improve, not that they were bad but, a little change would do well to incorporate some more excitement in my life. Instantly my thoughts floated to Gerard, with his dainty figure and upturned nose, effeminate and masculine in every way. Now there was something that was  _definitely_  exciting.  
  
 **~*~**

I slowly shut the front door letting a huge waft of air escape my lips in relief as the door clicked closed. I was out, without a sound and without my parents’ knowledge. The two thermoses wobbled in my hand as I tried to pull the zipper up on my jacket. Blasted weather, I cursed under my breath watching as it swirled in a grey mist in the icy air. The nights, or mornings as it was 3am, were seemingly getting colder and even the cold nipped through my jeans. My skin erupted in small bumps but they soon dissipated as the thought of drinking the steaming cocoa in the thermos was enough to warm me up.  
  
Hopefully Gerard was a sugary chocolate fan, otherwise I would be downing both thermos, not that that would be an issue. Although I didn’t fancy having to go to the bathroom in the middle of the forest especially in this weather, and with nearly a litre of hot cocoa in my system going to the bathroom would become a necessity.  
  
I clutched my arms around my body, hugging myself for warmth. I was nearly breaking out into a run as I neared the distinct tar black silhouette of the trees. Once again the recognisable sounds of footsteps followed me up until I was absorbed by the darkness of the trees. This time I didn’t run and nor did it. To say I was scared was an understatement, I was petrified and seconds away from having debilitating heart palpitations. Two nights in a row this person had followed me, but they never dared go into the forest, they wanted me, but something was keeping them back. Another person? I shuddered at the thought of having two people follow me through the darkness in the early morning. I decided to take another route tomorrow night, if they were planning something this may disrupt their seemingly wily task.  
  
The first thing that caught my attention when encroaching upon the gentle glow of the house wasn’t the lack of light compared to last night but the quiet chattering that trilled through the silence. I crouched a little and lightly stepped toward my, now, signature hiding spot. The chattering became louder with each of my steps and I found myself straining to determine the location from which it was coming from. It was close, but it sounded as though it was at my side and behind me, then in front of me the next moment. The echoing ability of the trees kept up this floating miasma of noise and I began to become increasingly unsettled. My stomach was rejecting it contents and I could feel the burn of bile as it rose up into the back of my throat.  
  
My attention was focused on my stomach and throat that I failed to realise the log that was in front of me. The toe of my show got caught on the tip of the log and my body seemed to drop to the ground in a heavy heap. The hot cocoa, though, didn’t spill, and despite the pain and the small mummers from underneath me that’s all I cared about. Wait. Murmurs? I slowly gained more awareness of what I was lying on, and it was most certainly not the hard rocky ground. It was soft and lumpy, and had hair and was making muffled protests. Gerard. I was suddenly pushed to the side and landed on my back with a quite ‘oof’.  
  
Gerard shot up from the ground and rubbed the back of his head, “Jesus Frank, watch where you’re walking next time, you basically stood on me.”  
  
I sat up and noticed only just notices his figure as it shifted, “well to be fair, you are dressed in all black, put it this way if we were playing hide and go seek, you’d win for sure.” I paused to hear a small chuckle come from the barely visible outline in front of me, “sorry for stepping on you, I’ll try to be more careful next time.”  
  
As my eyes began to adjust I could see Gerard had a small smile sat on his face, but there were also darkened areas of skin mottling his face. I leant forward and ran the pad of my thumb over the largest one that covered the entirety of his eye and the surrounding area. He winced in pain as I applied a small amount of pressure. Bruises. They were bruises.  
  
“Gerard, did-did he do this to you?” I whispered almost inaudibly.  
  
The chattering began once again, and I realised that it was Gerard who had been making the noise, hit teeth were chattering. I looked across his thin frame, he was in a long sleeved shirt and long pants but the material was thin and hardly keeping him even slightly warm.  
  
Ignoring my question I shuffled next to him, “fuck Gerard you’ll get pneumonia in this weather without at least a jacket,” I unzipped my jacket and wrapped it around Gerard’ shoulders, before remembering the streaming thermos of cocoa. “I hope you like chocolate, because I have it liquefied and steaming hot.” I held out the silver container to Gerard who grabbed it hastily and popped the lid off.  
  
He let out a small moan as he breathed in the sweetness that erupted in a mist against the cold air. He sipped silently at the drink as did I with mine and very slowly inched closer toward me. I was admittedly a little cold but I had a hoodie and jeans on, Gerard only had my jacket along with the thin pieces of linen clothing, he must have been freezing.  
  
I was a little taken aback when Gerard’s shoulder lightly bumped against mine indication his closeness, “thank you Frank, for everything.”  
  
“There’s no need to thank me, I haven’t really done anything other than bring hot cocoa and step on you.”  
  
“You came back, even when I begged you not too, you care. That’s more than I could ever ask of you.”  
“Gerard, how did you get those bruises?”  
“I – I can’t say.”  
  
“Please Gerard, let me help you, I want to help you but I can’t if you won’t tell me anything,” despite the lack of light Gerard knew I was staring directly at him, “please Gerard.”  
  
Gerard let out a small whimper of reluctance, “I don’t know why I am entrusting you with this Frank, but I think the bruises speak for themselves, and after he kicked me down the stairs it’s pretty obvious he beats me on a regular basis and he-he uhm…”  
  
Gerard trailed off but I urged him to continue, “it’s alright Gerard, you can tell me.”  
  
Gerard sniffled a little indicating he was now crying, “he comes into my room, sometimes, and he makes me do things to him, and he does things to me, I always say no and tell him to stop, but he just hits and me and insists that I am his bitch and I’ll do as I’m told. I can’t deny him what he wants; he’ll just hurt me more.”  
  
Gerard bean to sob as I evaporated his personal space and wrapped my arms around his shaking body, “It’s okay Gerard, I’m going to help you, I promise.  
  
“You? You’re going to help me? And how exactly do you plan on doing that?” Gerard replied a small amount of venom lacing his words.  
  
“By saving you.” I whispered into his shoulder.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you for the lovely comments guys! enjoy! x

**_“The meeting of two personalities is like the contact of two chemical substances: if there is any reaction, both are transformed.” – C. G. Jung_ **

**_~*~_ **

Gerard slipped out of my grip and looked at me with total disbelief, “save me, you-you’re going to save me?” he spoke with complete defeat lacing his words.  
“Frank, you can’t save me, I don’t know why you think you can or how you plan on doing it, but I am stuck here, with Him. I have nowhere to go, I have nothing!,” Gerard threw his hands up before turning away from me, “It’s best that you leave, I don’t want you to think I’m someone I’m not Frank. You should be spending your time on people who can appreciate your help.”  
  
I stepped forward and placed my hand on Gerard’s shoulder. His body tensed a little and he refused to look at me.  
  
“Gerard I don’t care if you don’t appreciate my help, I’m getting you out of here, I’m going to save you. You may not care about me, but I care about you and that’s the only motivation I need to make this work.”  
  
Gerard turned on the spot to face me, my hand fell from his shoulder but he quickly encased it with both his. His palms were rough and calloused but soothing as he clung a little tighter around my hand. “I have nothing Frank. Nowhere to go, no records of who I am, nothing, all I have is my memories and that’s hardly enough for me to be able to be a part of society again. I’m dead to the world, and I think it’s better that way. My brot-“ Gerard stopped abruptly and let go of my hand. He cast his face downward once again avoiding my lingering gaze.  
  
I place my fingers under his chin and lifted his head so he no option but to look at me, “Your what Gerard?”  
  
“My brother,” he slipped his fingers under his shirt only to pull out a small silver chain with a ring dangling off it.  
  
I let my hands lightly take hold of the ring and roll it around in my palm, inspecting the light glimmering of the silver. I ran my thumb over the engraved letters that had slightly tarnished,  _M.W._  
  
“What does M.W stand for?” I whispered still intently inspecting the ring.  
  
Gerard was silent for a moment and I caught a small tear fall from his cheek, “Michael, Michael Way. He was my little brother. I never saw him again after I was taken. I - I don’t even know if he’s alive.”  
  
The two of us stood in silence. Gerard was still crying silently as I grazed my fingers over the ring that was sat in the palm of my hand. It was intricate, beautiful and had me utterly bewitched. The ring seemed to have its own presence; silently compelling me to devote every speck of my attention to it, using its enrapturing simplicity as a weapon against my malleable mind.  
  
My thoughts began to jumble and my own mind became an enigma. Black spots started appearing at I tried to think and thoughts would quickly dash out of reach once I was moments away from grasping them. My head became substantially heavy and only then did I notice how much my neck ached from holding it upright. My temples began to throb. Sound became sporadic. Silence would momentarily be broken by a shrill scream from the crickets nestled in the grass at my feet. My vision was distorted; trees were deformed, bending at unnatural angles as they reached out with bony limbs toward me.  
  
The ground suddenly rushed toward me and a sharp burst of pain rippled along the side of my body as it contacted with the debris littering floor. Stones and sticks dug and cut at my skin, tearing the flesh and allowing small beads of blood to trickle from the open wounds. The sensation ran chills along my body as the warmth glided against the iciness of my skin. The caw of a raven echoed around my body as I hugged my limbs closer. I couldn’t think, I couldn’t move. My breathing had halted. I forgot how to breathe. The reflection of moonlight in a glistening pool of hazel was the last thing I saw before the darkness took hold and I was lost into the abyss of my own dazed mind.  
  
 **~*~**  
  
“Frank! Frank! Frank, please wake up!” the warmth of breath tickled across my cheeks as the voice pleaded.  
  
My senses slowly began to come back as I felt the uneven ground underneath my body and tightness around my hand. A small squeeze on my hand was accompanied by the voice begging once more, “Frank, Frank please, please, please be okay…”  
  
My brain was still hazy but I had gained back the ability for messages from my brain to be sent to my limbs without any trouble. I kept my eyes shut as my fingers twitched, reciprocating the light appliance of pressure to the hand that was interlaced with mine.  
  
“Frank! Oh my god! Frank, open your eyes, it’s me Gerard!” a palm was lightly rested against my cheek, it was clammy and cold against my skin.  
  
I forced my eyelids to slowly open. At first everything was blurred and colours mixed with one another forming a distorted image of the forest and figure hovering above me. A warm orange tone swept over all the morphed images and colours. I blinked my eyes a few times allowing the colours to return to their normal places and the blurriness to subside.  
  
The looming trees above were quickly replaced with Gerard’s red, puffy and tear stained face. He leaned over my body and placed his face extremely close to my own. He sniffled, ignoring the few tears that dripped onto my face, “Jesus Frank, you scared the shit out of me.”  
  
I moved my arms along the ground forgetting that one of Gerard’s hands was still laced with mine and tried to push my body up. A low groan erupted from the back of my throat as Gerard moved from in front of my face and assisted me in sitting up. He sat beside me and stared intently – still not releasing my hand.  
  
“Frank, are you alright?” his voiced was a little shaky as he asked.  
  
“Ugh – I, ouch - ah, I think-think so, nothing feels broken, just – ouch – sore,” I spoke whilst pulling twigs from my hair and peeling leaf litter away from my skin. “What, what happened? One minute I was looking at your ring the next everything was like a hallucination. Colours were moving around and nothing was in the right place.”  
  
Gerard blatantly ignored my question and my gaze as he took hold of my other hand, “here let me help you up. You think you can stand?”  
  
“I – uh – maybe?” I gripped tightly onto Gerard’s hands as he pulled me up from the ground. I was fine for a split second and then my legs began to shake. My knees gave out underneath me and I began to topple down.  
  
Gerard’s hands wrapped around my waist stopping my body from hitting the rocky ground. He helped me gain my balance once again but never let go of his hold on my body. My knees began to wobble again.  
  
“Frank you can’t walk home like this. Shit. Shit. Shit. What am I going to do? I can’t leave you here but I can’t take you home either, it’s too close to morning, the suns already coming up. I won’t back in time. Oh god, he’ll kill me if I’m late.” Gerard began to get frantic and jittery.  
  
“Morning?” I mumbled questioning mainly myself.  
  
I looked around and realised what the orange tone was from before. It wrapped around everything, the trees, the sky, and our bodies; leaving everything glowing and seemingly pulsating with warmth. Stray beams of the increasing sunlight penetrated through the trees and igniting various parts of the forest with light, with one landing directly over us, unfortunately the warmth it possessed was illusionary. I once again became hyper aware to the cold and started to shiver.  
  
Gerard was still incoherently muttering to himself. And I was still far to confused about the whole situation to actually do anything about it.  
“Fuck,” I let out a breathy sigh.  
  
Gerard clasped his hands on the front of my shirt, “YES! Fuck indeed, I am so fucked! Dammit Frank!”  
  
I almost fell backward with force Gerard took hold of me with before placing my hands up in the air to try and soothe him, “Whoa, just calm down. You’re okay Gerard, no one is going to hurt you. You need to come with me; you need to help me get home. You said yourself you can’t leave me here and I can’t walk properly.”  
  
Pure terror was almost branded onto Gerard’s face, “but-but when I come back he-he’ll-”  
  
I placed my index finger to his lips to shut him up, “it’s alright, you won’t be coming back.”  
Gerard jumped backward and almost let go of e entirely, “What!? Are you crazy! I have to come back!”  
  
“No, you see that’s just it! You don’t have to come back, you can stay at my house. You can live with my parents and me if you want. It will be like starting completely anew! You can forget about this asshole, and stop being his personal slave. You can actually live, be autonomous, be you!” I smiled at him. His yes darted around a little before he shifted and turned to look back in the direction of the house.  
  
“You, you’ll take care of me right? You won’t let him take me back? I’ll be safe?” his voice trembled as his eyes desperately pleaded with mine.  
  
“You’ll be safe,” I whispered pulling his body back next to mine, “I promise.” I slipped my arms around his body and embraced him in a hug.  
  
We stayed clinging onto one another until the sun began to illuminate more of the forest and the orange tinge had nearly completely dissipated, indicating that the early morning was starting to become a thing of the past. We had to leave.  
  
“Come on Gee, we need to go now,” I spoke, gently prying his body off mine.  
  
Gerard didn’t glance back at the house once as held my hobbling body upright. We continued through the forest, following the small path etched through the leaves. The streets were bare as Gerard and I stumbled through the silence and worked our way back to my house. My attention was divided between trying to not fall over, Gerard’s sporadic tremors and what exactly I was going to tell my parents.  
  
They were going to kill me, then want to help Gerard, then kill me again. I had no contingency plan. I had no idea what I would do if they didn’t agree to let Gerard stay. I could get away with him staying for a week, two at the most, but after that they’d start asking questions. Questions I didn’t have answers for, or at least, answers they either didn’t want to hear to didn’t want to believe. I decided, against my better judgment, that I’d keep Gerard hidden for as long as possible. Truth be told, I knew it wasn’t completely stupid but the longer he is hidden the longer I have to come up with a myriad of excuses to get my parents to let him live with us.  
  
I directed Gerard down along my street until my house stood before us. It was still early and usually my parents would still be asleep at this time. Gerard helped me up the couple stairs on the porch was wrapped his hand around the brass door handle. Seconds away from pulling the door open a light feminine humming travelled through the open window at the front of the house.  
  
“Fuck,” I muttered.  
  
“What? Is that your mum?” Gerard asked shifting his weight from foot to foot.  
  
“Yeah, she must have gotten up early this morning.”  
  
“Well what’s the problem, come on let’s go in.”  
  
“No! We uh-I can’t let her see me, she doesn’t know I snuck out last night, we’re going to have to climb in through my window, I think I left the rope hanging out of it from the other night.” I moved my body and Gerard was swift to clasp onto my sides.  
  
We quietly and slowly moved around to the side of the house, I saw Gerard continuously open and close his mouth like he wanted to say something, but couldn’t seem to.  
Luckily my laziness came in handy as the makeshift escape rope still hung out my opened window. I tugged on it a few times to make sure it was still secured before using all the power in my arms to pull myself up the side of the house. Gerard was quick to follow behind me, he wasn’t co-ordinated and nearly fell a couple times, grabbing onto my leg every time he slipped and digging his nails into my skin.  
  
I pulled myself through the window just in time for both my arms and legs to completely give up on me. Gerard’s body must have been in the same state. The second I was completely through the window I was pushed to the ground by a tumbling weight. I landed on my back hitting the ground with a loud thump. Gerard’s body came flying down and landed on top of my own crashing our foreheads together.  
  
We both let out pained moans and Gerard, realising that he was basically straddling me to the ground placed his arms either die of my head and pushed himself up a little. A slight shade of rosy pink coloured his cheeks as he stared at me lying underneath him.  
  
“S-sorry Frank,” he stuttered trying to hide behind his hair.  
  
I let out a small giggle, “don’t worry about it. You’re getting a little flustered there Gee, you alright?" I moved the hair from his face and smirked.  
  
Gerard moved his eyes up to make contact with mine, the pink in his cheeks was prominent and began to spread to other areas of his pale skin. He kept silent, holding my body down under hi and staring at me, occasionally his eyes would slip down a little only to be brought straight back up.  
  
“Frank! Frank get up, you’ve got to get ready for school!” My mothers’ voice broke us out of entranced state.  
  
“Shit, shit, shit! Quick get up, uh-,” I shot up and pushed Gerard off me. My eyes scanned the room looking for somewhere I could hide him. The wardrobe. Cliché and hardly a good place to hide a person but it was all I had. “Gerard, get into the wardrobe, now!” I whispered and hustled his body toward the oak contraption.  
  
“Wha-what? Frank, stop pushing me, Frank!” I placed my hand over his mouth before shoving his body into the wardrobe.  
  
“Stay quiet,” I hissed through the closed door.  
  
“Frank?” My mother called through the door for me again.  
  
I quickly ran to my desk and fumbled around for my red eye shadow. I found it under a pair of used underwear and quickly set to dabbing it randomly over my face. I didn’t have time to inspect my work when my mother began to pound on the door.  
  
“Frank Anthony Iero! Open this door now!”  
  
I quickly slumped my body over trying to feign looking as sickly as possible. School was just simply not an option today. I flicked the lock on the door and my mother swung it open so quickly it barely missed hitting me.  
  
“Frank! How many times do I need to ask you to – Frank? Frank! Oh honey, are you alright!?” She quickly rushed to me as I pretended become faint. “Here, here, don’t move, you’re going back to bed. Come on.” Despite her small frame my mother had a hell of a lot of strength and she nearly lifted my entire body off the ground to move me into the bed.  
  
I let my eyes flutter closed as she swept the hair from my face and felt for my temperature, “oh dear, sweetie look at how flushed you are, you’re a bit hot too. I’ll call the school and let them know you won’t be going in today. You stay right there honey, get some sleep and rest up.”  
  
I let out a small groan that was supposed to resemble an “okay”. My mother quickly scurried out the door leaving me alone in my bed and Gerard still silently hidden away in the wardrobe.


	7. Chapter 7

_**“Do actions agree with words? There's your measure of reliability. Never confine yourself to the words.” – Frank Herbert** _

**~*~**

  
I let out a heavy breath and pulled the covers up so that my face was covered in darkness as my mother slammed the door close behind her.  
  
“Frank?” Gerard’s hushed voice filled the silence.  
  
“Yes Gerard?”  
  
“Can I come out now? It’s getting stuffy in here.”  
  
“Not until my parents have left for work, which won’t be long, you can open the door a tiny bit if you need air.”  
  
I pulled the blanket away from my eyes to see the wardrobe door open very slightly; just enough for Gerard to get some air but not enough to rouse suspicion from my mother. I heard my mothers’ voice from downstairs as she chatted with, presumably, the office lady from school about my absence. I pulled the duvet over my head once again trying to think of just what I was going to do with the handsome young man hidden in my wardrobe.  
  
My fingers instantly clenched on the duvet.  _Handsome_ , I just called a teenage boy that I hardly knew, handsome. I would be lying to myself if I tried to deny that his small, rosy, cupids bow lips weren't completely enrapturing along with his petite upturned nose that was far too adorable. He was effeminate but upheld his masculinity, small and airy but chiselled and, well, handsome. A deadly combination for an idiot like myself who falls into the trap of love due to impulsiveness rather than common sense far too easily. Something told me that perhaps sweeping him off his feet and declaring my affections would probably send him into a panic attack and end very badly for the both of us. Then again, he was the one who pinned me to the ground with his hips only moments ago. Maybe Gerard had other intentions or maybe he was just so broken and desperate for affection he’d take anyone’s – even mine.  
  
The clicking of my mothers’ heels returned to my ears as she entered my room. I felt the bed dip at my feet as she sat and waited for me to show my face. I peeked out from under the duvet and tried to look as exhausted and defeated as possible.  
  
“Frank, sweetie, I called the school and sorted out your absentee. Your father and I are going to head off to work, you stay in bed and rest up, alright? I left some soup on the bench if you get hungry.” She spoke quietly, smiling at me pitifully.  
  
I coughed and let out a raspy, “thanks mum,” before she kissed my forehead.  
  
“Call me if you need anything, we’ll be home around five, bye sweetheart.” She stood from the bed and walked out the door closing it behind her.  
  
I stayed still and silent until the sound of my parents’ car moved from the front of the house, to down the street then disappeared from earshot completely. I heard a small grunt and then a loud thud as Gerard’s body came tumbling out of the wardrobe. Clothes flew out after him and covered his slumped body that lay on the ground. I felt bad for a moment before bursting out into a fit of laughter. Gerard shook the clothes off his body and scowled at me as I continued to giggle uncontrollably.  
  
“Not funny, that hurt,” he huffed crossing his arms over his chest.  
  
“S-sorry, it-it’s just a l-little funny, you have t-to admit,” my words were broken between laughing and trying to recapture my breath.  
  
A small smiled crept onto Gerard face showing off his tiny irregular teeth and soon he was laughing alongside me. His laugh was a total contrast to his voice, it was high and off pitch, but suited him perfectly. I halted my swooning when I felt a weight push the mattress down next to my body. Gerard sat and smiled intently at my duvet covered body, when suddenly his face dropped.  
  
“You okay?” I asked pushing my body up to a sitting position.  
  
“I thought you were gonna introduce me to your parents, not shove me in a wardrobe,” his voice was quiet and solemn. I thought for sure in a few moments I’d have another teary eyed Gerard, but alas not a single tear was shed.  
  
I looked at his downcast face and realised he wasn’t upset, he was hurt. I rubbed my eyes with the palm of my hands before nervously picking away at my fingernails. This boy was an emotional and metal wreck, traumatised and desperate for any type of affection he could get. Not a needy desperate, more just a wanting to feel something desperate.  
  
I pulled Gerard’s body close to mine encasing him in a light hug, “Gee, I’m sorry, but, I couldn’t tell my mum, not yet, I need to keep you hidden for a while, just until I can figure out what I’m going to tell her, you said yourself that no one can know what happened. I just - I don’t see why we can’t just get the cops on his ass?”  
  
Gerard’s body stiffened and he pulled away, “No! No, you don’t understand. If I thought the police would be able to do anything I would have run away myself. He’s dangerous and unpredictable.”  
  
“Gerard you keep telling me how dangerous he is, but I don’t understand what you mean? Like, does he have a gun? A machete? A fucking flame-thrower? Like what makes him so dangerous!?” my voice began to rise with frustration and I knew it was making Gerard nervous.  
He kept inching away from me ever so slightly, and flinched when I moved. Did – did he think I was going to hit him?  
I let out a breathy, “fuck,” before taking hold of Gerard’s shaky hand, “Gerard you listen to me, I am not going to hurt you like that asshole did, I know I can’t ask you to completely relax, you’re used to being hurt when people get angry, but I swear on it, I will not hurt you in any way. You can trust me.”  
  
Gerard nodded and forced a small smile at me, “Now, tell me, what makes him so dangerous?”  
  
Gerard took in a deep breath, “you know how you passed out in the forest? When you were holding the ring?”  
  
I raised an eyebrow, “Uh yeah, but what’s that go to do wi-“  
  
“Just let me finish before you ask questions. I did it. I made you, y’know, pass out.”  
  
I let my mouth fall agape as I stared back at him, “what? That’s not even possible Ge-“  
  
“He taught me how to do it. The ring serves as a distraction. I didn’t mean to make you pass out, I swear. I wasn’t paying attention and it just happened. I thought I killed you at first because you stopped breathing.”  
  
I squinted my eyes shut, running my fingers through my hair. Just my fucking luck, not only was this guy psycho but he was a psycho with some form of mystical power thing. “So, you’re telling me, that you ‘magically’ made me pass out? And that this guy has some freaky magical abilities he uses against people thus making him dangerous and calling the cops futile?”  
  
Gerard nodded, “basically.”  
  
“Is-is that why he was able to make you, y’know uh,” I carefully tip-toed around blatantly calling it sexual assault, I knew that Gerard wasn’t ready to accept that that was what had happened, “– do stuff?”  
  
Gerard turned his head away, “no, he never used it on me when it came to those things. He wanted to make sure I felt every second of it.”  
  
“Why did he teach you how to do it then?” Gerard still didn’t look back at me as my queries continued.  
  
“It’s more the ring than me, I don’t know what he did to the ring but it holds the majority of the power, I just utilise it, he only taught me how to make people pass out, in case someone tried to take me away. I tried fiddling with it to try and learn how to manipulate it. I can do little things, memory loss, telekinesis if I have too. But I never used it obviously on Him, he would find out and punish me.”  
  
“I don’t understand how it works, like, do you have to chant or something? I don’t get it.”  
Gerard swiveled a bit to make eye contact, “it’s a mental thing. Concentration and lots of it, there’s no chanting or summoning. It’s all in the mind.”  
  
I scratched the back of my head nervously worried as to how Gerard would act upon hearing my words, “you wouldn’t, you know, use it on me would you?”  
  
Gerard eyes widened, “No! Never! You said you’d never hurt me right?” I nodded. “Right, well I’ll never hurt you. I don’t class this as a gift Frank. I only used it when I desperately needed too. Except for last night, I –uh- it was hard to concentrate with you ogling my ring, I didn’t realise what I was doing until you fell over.”  
  
“Gerard, it’s fine, I trust you and don’t worry about last night. We’ll forget about it yeah?”  
Gerard smiled, “yeah.”  
  
 **~*~**  
  
Gerard was sprawled out on the floor of my bedroom flicking through one of my comic books. He had been entranced by my collection, which was now messily piled around him, all morning. Our conversation earlier had involved far too many emotions for one day, and I needed something that would hopefully keep him preoccupied for a few hours.  
  
I hadn't believed him when he stared me dead in the eyes and said “I’m not going to stop reading until I’ve finished them all, the brilliance cannot be interrupted!” Naturally I laughed and told him it would take hours and hours to read them all. And yet, here we were not 3 hours later, and he was reading the last page of the final one.  
  
I heard the book hit the ground along with a long groan. I peeked over my laptop to see Gerard lying flat against the ground and the comic book situated underneath his head. After a few minutes of no movements and no various other noises emitting from his throat, I thought it best I at least check in with his sanity. I closed my laptop and shuffled forward on my stomach along the bed so my head hung over the edge.  
  
“You alright down there?”  
  
Another moan.  
  
“I don’t speak in moans, what that a good moan, or a bad moan?”  
  
Gerard lifted his head only so that he could turn it and look at me before letting it hit the ground again. I nearly didn’t hear him when he finally decided to speak.  
  
“It’s over.”  
  
“What’s over?”  
  
“The comics. All of them, done, finished, complete.”  
  
“Is that a problem? I can buy some more if you’d like?”  
  
“It’s not that, I, I just don’t know what to do with myself right now. Like, I want to feel something, but it’s empty, but like not empty y’know? It’s like a longing almost.”  
  
“Uh, I think I get it. Like when you finish a book and you kinda take a step back and just sit there completely dead pan trying to fathom what you just read and convince yourself that it really is over.”  
  
“Yes! That’s it. What do I do now though?”  
  
“Uhm, I don’t know, I usually just start a new book, but you don’t really have that option considering I have no more comics left. We could go have some lunch if you want, get your mind off it?”  
  
Gerard nodded in reply. I got up of the bed and flattened out my crinkled jeans before lending a hand to Gerard who seemed to still be suffering from his post obsession-over-a-series syndrome. Another groan left his mouth as I pulled him up from the floor.  
  
“My back hurts,” he mumbled as we headed toward the door.  
  
“That does tend to happen when you spend three hours on the floor,” I grinned at him.  
  
Gerard smiled and nudged me, “shut up.”  
  
 **~*~**  
  
Gerard stood close and watched me intently as I hurried around the kitchen preparing the soup my mother had left me. He seemed so enthralled by every simple action. Even placing the two bowls in the microwave seemed to ignite a sense of intrigue within him. It was a little awkward to be stared a while cooking, but I guessed that Gerard hadn’t been in or around a kitchen when food was being prepared for quite a while.  
  
I had my back turned stirring when Gerard spoke up, “you’re really good at this y’know.”  
  
I continued stirring and turned a little to make eye contact, “what? Stirring?”  
  
“No, cooking. It’s weird, but you seem really comfortable with your movements when you’re cooking.”  
  
“It’s canned soup Gerard, all I had to do was pour it in a bowl, heat it and stir it. it’s a pretty basic process, I wouldn’t really classify it as cooking.”  
  
“Do you cook a lot?”  
  
“Uh, no, not really. I make the occasional salad, but again, that’s not really cooking.”  
  
Gerard nodded and cast his eyes down to his hands. I could feel another painfully awkward silence encroaching, and decide even if it was cooking we were going to converse about it was better than nothing.  
  
“Do you, uh, do you cook?” I asked sliding the steaming bowl across the counter to him.  
  
He took hold of the bowl with both hands and stared at it momentarily, “thanks, it’s been a while since I’ve had a meal this big. And, I haven’t cooked in a while, my brother and I used to cook with my mum a lot.”  
  
I saw the sadness immediately wash over his features as soon as his family was mentioned, “oh, Gerard I’m sorry-“  
  
“No, no, don’t be. I thought I was over what happened; that I’d moved on. But I never really had anyone to talk too, so I guess talking about it rather than thinking about it, I don’t know, makes it more real, if that makes sense?”  
  
“Yeah,” I stopped for a moment to watch him take a large sip of the soup, “it makes perfect sense.”  
  
Gerard and I finished our soup in silence, all the while he avoided my gaze. I knew he was upset, and it was mainly my fault he was. But I had no idea how to help him. Talking wasn’t going to do anything except make it worse, but I felt guilty staying silent. I grazed my eyes over the kitchen hoping that some utensil would ignite my imagination and help me figure out what to do. My eyes stopped at the microwave and I mentally slapped myself for not thinking of it earlier. A movie, no one has to talk, we just need to sit in silence and distract ourselves with terrible acting and dodgy CGI. Perfect.  
  
Gerard didn’t question me when I took hold of his wrist and practically dragged him up the stairs back into my room. Nor did he speak when I set up all the pillows against the bedhead and picked out The Amityville Horror from my DVD collection. I closed the curtains and flicked off the lights making the room seem substantially darker then what it would normally be in the early afternoon and hopped onto the bed. Gerard stood awkwardly and watched me as I shuffled around and hit the pillows trying to get comfy.  
  
I smiled and patted the empty space next to me on the bed, “care to join me?”  
  
Gerard slowly settled in next to me, relaxing into the pillows, “what are you watching?”  
  
“Amityville Horror, it’s the best movie,” I grinned and hit the play button on the remote.  
  
“Horror? Is it, uh, scary?”  
  
“It’s alright, not really what I’d classify as scary. You’d have to get scared pretty easily to have it frighten you. Don’t worry, if you don’t wanna watch it just tell me and I’ll turn it off.”  
  
I kept my eyes forward trying not to steal the occasional glance as Gerard’s small body that was curled up next me. I could feel his presence was much closer than when the movie had started, the only problem was I wasn’t sure if he had inched closer to me or I closer to him. Oftentimes I’d found myself subconsciously moving towards something I wanted; whether it be cookies that mum has specifically told me not to touch or the near irresistible boy beside me, past experience had taught me that eventually I’d moved so close resistance was no longer an option.  
  
I’d forgotten completely about the movie playing and was slightly confused when a small squeak escaped Gerard’s lips. A moment later his face was buried in my shoulder small whimpers slipping from his throat. I looked up to see the poltergeist causing havoc within the house.  
“Frank, Frankie can you please turn it off,” Gerard pleaded into my shoulder.  
I picked up the remote and turned off the movie and television causing the room to fall into near complete darkness.  
  
“It’s alright Gee, it’s off,” I cooed gently and let my fingers daintily slip through his hair.  
  
He didn’t remove his face from my shoulder instead he scooted a little closer to me. Our legs were touching and his stomach brushed against my hip. I let my hand continue lazily through the onyx locks as I lowered my voice and lulled into his ear, “Gee, Gee it’s okay. The movies off, it’s alright.”  
  
Gerard slowly brought his head up from my arm and looked around the room, thought due to the darkness there was little to nothing to see.  
“See, told you, everything’s alright,” I smiled gently and remove my hand from his hair placing it just slightly above his waist, “you okay?”  
  
Gerard moved a little but didn’t try to remove my hold on him, “yeah, I’m okay, sorry.”  
  
“No, no don’t apologise. We, we can watch something else if you want?”  
  
His head fell gently against my shoulder once again, “do you mind if we just sit here, it’s okay if you don’t, it’s just-“  
  
“Gee, it’s fine, whatever you want to do, we’ll do.”  
  
Gerard dipped his head a little and whispered “thanks Frankie,” before inching just a little bit closer.


	8. Chapter 8

**_“There are some secrets which do not permit themselves to be told” – Edgar Allen Poe_ **

**_~*~_ **

“Frank? Frank are you here?”  
  
The sound of a voice calling for me woke me from the light sleep I hadn’t realised I’d fallen into. I groaned and shuffled a little to wipe at my face. When my arm didn’t move as I planned I pried my eyes open to find Gerard’s body entwined with mine, and his face buried in my chest. I let a small smile slip onto my face as I watched his chest rise and fall slowly with his uneven breathing. I lightly brushed away the hair from his face to reveal his delicate features and lightly parted lips. I was gawking, a little creepily, but he was sound asleep.  
  
“Frank Anthony Iero!”  
  
I shot up in the bed successfully knocking Gerard’s body off mine and waking him from his slumber. He let out a small moan of annoyance and scrunched his face. His small fingers extended out clutching for my shirt like a child.  
  
“Frank, I know you’re here!”  
  
 _Mikey._  Finally aware of the situation and the sound of Mikey’s encroaching steps I began to shake Gerard’s body.  
  
“Gerard! Gerard, wake up, quick, you need to hide.”  
  
Gerard’s eyes flew open and he looked at me in complete terror. He began to shake and fear washed the colour from his face, “he found me didn’t he, he’s here, you’re going to give me back to him. No. no Frank I can’t go back I can’t! Don’t make me go!” Gerard was frantic as he fell from the bed and shuffled away from me on the floor.  
  
“Gee, Gee, calm down. He’s not here, he’s not going to take you away. You’re not going anywhere except my wardrobe because Mikey is here and you need to hide before he finds you.” I slowly pulled Gerard up from the floor and held his elbows while he calmed down.  
  
For a moment Gerard looked utterly perplexed the fear seemingly having been completely disregarded.  
  
“Gee, Gerard, look you really need to hide,” I tried my best to usher Gerard toward the wardrobe when a loud banging echoed throughout my room.  
  
“Frank, open this door!” Mikey demanded, continuing his bashing against the wood.  
  
“Fuck, quick, I’ll get rid of him as quick as I can. Just hide,” I cursed again to myself, as I stared the door down.  
  
A light click behind me reassured me that Gerard was safely enclosed in the wardrobe and so I stepped forward and pulled the door open. A fuming and dishevelled Mikey appeared in the doorway looking like he was seconds away from throttling me.  
  
“Frank! What the actual fuck dude! Where were you today? Are you sick, you don’t look sick? I was freaking out all day, Ray was all shady and shit when I asked why you weren’t at school and said something about you and I being together or something fucking stupid like that. You didn’t answer any of my texts or calls. I could have sworn I heard voices, who were you talking too? Frank are you alright, you look like you’re gonna pass out?” Mikey spoke too fast for my brain to comprehend half of his words. He stood and stared at me when I remained silent, the anger having dissipated into concern.  
  
My knees buckled slightly and I fell forward causing Mikey to have to catch me, “Jesus Frank, come on, sit down.” Mikey held me close assisting me as I sat down on the end of the bed. He left his hand to linger on my back reassuringly, “Frank you know you can talk to me, you’ve been kinda weird the last couple of days. Is it because of what I said to you after we went to the house? You know I didn’t meant it I was just upset, I’m sorry.”  
  
“No, no Mikey this, this isn’t your fault at all. I just – no it’s nothing. Mikey I think it’s best if you left, I could be infectious.”  
  
Mikey looked a little dumbfounded before scoffing, “I’m not leaving until you talk to me. Infectious my ass, Frank. You’ve been a hell of a lot more sick than you are now and I spent hours with you and was fine. Is something wrong between us? Did I do something?”  
  
“No, no, okay. It’s Ray, he said some things and I-“ I stopped for a moment contemplating whether or not I was going to regret my next choice of words, “are you and Ray dating?”  
  
Mikey shot back a little in shock before his cheeks fired up, “what! Me and Ray? Are you, are you crazy, Frank I-I’m not g-“  
  
I took hold of his hand, “it’s okay Mikey, I’m not going to judge you if you are. I’m your best friend and I’ll accept you no matter what you are.”  
  
“What did Ray say to you? No, we are not dating. I’m not into Ray in that way, I never have been!”  
  
“What Ray said doesn’t matter, he just seems very protective of you that’s all.”  
  
“Just because he’s protective doesn’t mean we’re fucking each other! Fucking hell Frank, I can’t-I just, fuck,” Mikey glared at me a little before placing his head in his hands, “I think I should go, I just wanted to make sure you were okay and now this and ugh, see ya later Frank.”  
  
Mikey stood up and began to leave, “Mikey wait, please, I’m sorry okay, I just didn’t know. I had the wrong idea, I didn’t mean to offend you.”  
  
Mikey half smiled, “I know, did you mean it?”  
  
I raised an eyebrow in confusion, “mean what?”  
  
Mikey turned and stepped toward me; so close that our noses were almost touching, “when you said you’d accept me no matter what, did you mean it?”  
  
“Of course I did. Why wouldn’t I? No matter what gender you prefer you’re still going to be the same old Mikey to me, you’re like my brother.”  
  
I noticed Mikey’s expression change immediately, his face fell before he moved away, “bye Frank.”  
  
“I’ll see you at school tomorrow yeah?”  
  
Mikey muttered a small ‘yeah’ before leaving the room and closing the door behind him.  
A hand was delicately placed on my shoulder, I turned to see Gerard looking at me intently.  
  
“Sorry about that, he can be stubborn when he wants too, so what do you want to do, we still have some time before my mum gets home?” I turned away and headed back to the bed to watch another movie.  
  
“He likes you,” Gerard’s voice made me freeze as I was rummaging around for the TV remote.  
  
I turned around and looked at Gerard’s dead serious expression, “Mikey? No, no way in hell. We’re like brothers. He doesn’t like me, you’re mistaken.”  
  
“He was going to kiss you, you know that, when he stepped real close to you. He only moved away when you said exactly that ‘you’re like my brother’.”  
  
I opened my mouth to retort when I thought about how Mikey’s gaze had lingered on my lips whilst he moved closer to me. Gerard was right. He was going to kiss me.  
  
“Oh fuck,” I breathed out, “I- I thought he may have been gay, but interested in me? Oh shit, this is going to end so badly. Why, why Mikey, why me?” I looked up the ceiling pleading for any divinity to answer me, “Ray’s a fucking asshole but at least I know he’ll treat Mikey right, me on the other hand, fuck, no, I could never, he’ll always be like a brother.”  
  
Gerard stayed silent and placed himself back into his previous position next to me on the bed. We sat in silence for a moment before Gerard spoke up, “Mikey, I used to call my brother that. He had glasses too, my brothers were white, and they were too big for him so they fell down a lot.”  
  
I let out a small laugh, “Mikey’s used to do that too until he got new ones about a year ago. They sat on the end of his nose and he had to hold his head at a really awkward angle so he could see properly. Mikey Way, he’s my best friend, always has been, none of the other kids talked to us because we were different and pretended to be vampires and werewolves and all sorts of ghouls when we played. They thought we were scary, mothers even told their children to avoid us. It didn’t matter though, we had each other and we never needed anyone else.”  
  
Gerard’s face fell a little, “Until now of course, Mikey’s gonna love you, trust me. You’re almost as weird as us,” I smiled and winked at him.  
  
Gerard laughed and ducked his head a little out of my view. My smile increased as his timidness, I placed my hand under his chin and lifted it so he had no other option but to look at me.  
  
“You know, you blush a lot, and you get all shy when you smile,” I teased.  
  
Gerard tried to pull away, “shut up, no I don’t.”  
  
I let his chin go and poked his side playfully, “you do.”  
  
Gerard and I sat and watched the television, although it was more than obvious neither of us were actually paying attention to very sketchy zombie horde on the screen. I caught Gerard stealing small glances at me and my hands every so often and the temptation to keep my fingers from lacing with his was almost unbearable. I didn’t want Gerard to think he was making me uncomfortable, but I had to keep my mind off his presence, and fidgeting was the only thing I could think of. I picked at my jeans, my fingernails, I toyed with my earing, I even considering fiddling with the zipper of my jeans but realised quickly that that was certainly not one of my brighter ideas. The last thing I wanted was for Gerard to think I was going to shove my hand down my pants whilst he was right next to me.  
  
Gerard’s head began to droop a little and his eyelids soon followed in a similar motion, I figured the movie was probably boring enough to put me to sleep as well had I been paying any attention to it. The urge for contact soon left the depths of my mind and became and almost animalistic need. Just a touch, a brush of his hair from his eyes, a wrapping of my arm around his waist – anything! My eyes danced over his tiny body and instantly I felt sick and utterly disgusted with myself. I was taking advantage of his submissive state, though not physically just the thoughts were enough to disturb me.  
  
“Frank, are you okay?”  
  
I focused my vision and found Gerard staring at me with his eyebrow creased with concern. I parted my lips ready to justify why I had been staring at him but he spoke again before I could muster up my words.  
  
“You keep staring at me,” Gerard stopped a little abruptly, almost like he wanted to say more but he just wasn’t sure what is was he wanted to say.  
  
I swallowed, even though my throat was bone dry, “I, uh, sorry, this movie really sucks huh?” I tried to avert the conversation, direct it as far away from Gerard’s queries as possible.  
  
The sides of his mouth tugged a little into a smile, “yeah, it does.”  
  
I let out a breathy laugh and internally thanked whatever miracles were at work that he didn’t question me further. I needed to work on keeping my attention off Gerard’s face, and especially off the rest of his body. The last thing I needed was to be branded a pervert.  
  
The silence was broken with the sound of the front door being slammed closed followed by the hasty click of heels against the wooden floors. Gerard looked at me for a moment before sighing and crawling off the bed.  
  
“I guess that’s my cue to hide,” his voice betrayed his seemingly uncaring stance. I knew he hated the arrangement but to be honest I’m sure it’s a whole lot better then what he came from.  
I caught his gaze and mothed and apology as he closed the door. I quickly pulled the covers up over my body and switched the television off just seconds before my mother strolled into the room.  
  
She scurried around my room scolding me for leaving my comics all over the floor, and scowling at the general uncleanliness. She placed the back of her hand against my forehead and smiled, “well looks like someone recovered quickly, stay in bed though, I’ll bring up dinner when it’s ready, alright sweetie?”  
  
I nodded and thanked her before she hurried out; the clicking of her heels disappearing down the stairs. Gerard poked his head out from the wardrobe and made a slight jerking motion towards the door. I huffed in irritation as my mother had left the door wide open.  
  
“Feel free to close it,” I grunted.  
  
Gerard just smirked, “nope, you insist I stay hidden, so you can close it yourself.”  
  
I cursed at myself and then also at Gerard as I pulled myself from the bed and hurried over to close the door. A small giggle sounded behind me and I turned to see Gerard trying to stifle his laughter.  
  
I looked down at myself trying to see if there was something obvious that caused him to laugh, “what?”  
  
“You, you get all flustered and red in the face when you’re grumpy,” Gerard giggled again.  
  
“I do not, and besides I’m not grumpy.”  
  
“Whatever you say,” Gerard grinned at me, his tiny teeth accentuating his childishness.  
  
I turned away and flopped onto the bed in an attempt to hide the smile that was on my face. In the short time I’d known Gerard, if there was one thing I’d learnt it was his disturbing ability to make me smile. I buried my face further into the mattress and groaned. I only wanted to help Gerard, get him away from that monstrosity of a human being, but instead I got stuck with an inner turmoil and hormones making every second full of angst and primeval need.  
  
Gerard had decided to try a new tactic when my mother returned to my room with dinner. Partially is was because we were far to engrossed with reading some of the comics that he found shoved in the back of the wardrobe. Why they were there and how they got there was a mystery to me, but I wasn’t complaining. So as we were completely distracted and missed my mother clonking up the stairs Gerard had no option but to practically roll off the bed and force his body under the bed. He did so in record time as my mother meandered through the door humming a song she used to sing to me as a child.  
  
I was praying that she didn’t decide to spoon feed, tuck me in and sing me sleep like she used too. It worked when I was six and thought there were monsters under the bed, but at seventeen with a teenage boy hidden under my bed, I didn’t really need to be sung to sleep – or spoon fed. My mother plonked herself down next to me and pushed the hair from my forehead. She looked happy enough but there were some obvious crease lines on her brow and she was lightly gnawing on her bottom lip. I knew that look, I knew it because I did the same thing when I wanted to talk about or ask something and I didn’t know how to, or I was nervous.  
  
I tried to avoid my mothers’ gaze as I stirred the soup she had brought with her. Seconds away from slurping up my first spoonful she finally mustered up the courage to speak.  
  
“Donna rang this afternoon,” I dropped the spoon back into the bowl, my appetite having disappeared in seconds. My mother noticed my reaction creasing her brow a little more, “she said Mikey came home in tears.”  
  
I began to fidget, trying to avoid my mothers’ stare, “uh, yeah, so what’s that got to do with me?”  
“She said he dropped by before he went home. He came to see if you were okay?”  
  
I looked away fully this time. How could I admit I’d hurt Mikey so badly, I’d never even know he felt that way if Gerard hadn’t told me.  
  
“Frank? Frank what happened? Mikey’s locked himself away apparently, he won’t say a word. Now we both know that’s not what Mikey does when he’s upset, so this must be pretty major” my mother pulled on my chin to make me look at her. I was afraid she was going to reprimand me, but her eyes showed nothing but concern.  
  
“I, I didn’t do anything. Well not on purpose anyways,” I looked at my mother and she nodded for me to continue, “he came over and was freaking out because I was sick and didn’t text him. I asked him if he was dating Ray.”  
  
My mother’s mouth opened a little in shock, “Ray, Raymond Toro?”  
  
“Yes mum Ray, anyways Ray came up to me the other day and said some stuff, he was being really protective over Mikey and I just assumed that they had something going on. Mikey freaked out and was a little upset that I basically called him gay, he was scared I’d turn him away because of it.”  
  
“Oh Frank you didn’t did you? You didn’t say something rude about it?”  
  
“No! No, I said I was fine with it, and that I’d still be his friend no matter what he liked, then he got real close, I think he was gonna, y’know…” I trailed off, hoping she would fil the gaps.  
  
“Kiss you?”  
  
I sighed thinking back to how upset Mikey had looked after I said it, “I said he was like a brother to me, that’s when he left. I didn’t think I meant that much to him, I stand by what I said, he’s like my brother and he means a lot to me, but just not in  _that_  way.”  
  
“Oh honey, the best thing you can do is be honest with him. Don’t lead him down the wrong path. How about I invite the Way’s over for dinner on tomorrow night, it’s a Friday they shouldn’t be busy. You and Mikey can use the alone time to sort out your issues. Everything will be alright, I promise,” She smiled and kissed my forehead before standing up from the bed.  
  
“Thanks mum,” she gave me a small smile before beginning to leave the room. An idea suddenly struck me, “hey mum?”  
  
She stopped at the doorway and turned to me, “yes sweetie?”  
  
“Can I uh, can I invite a friend over tomorrow for dinner as well?”  
  
My mother looked sceptical for a moment before she raised an eyebrow, “a friend? As in a friend, or a  _friend_  friend?”  
  
“A friend mum.”  
  
She hummed for a moment, “as long as you sort things out with Mikey then sure.”  
  
I grinned and nodded, “thanks mum.”  
  
“Who is this friend, by the way?”  
  
I quickly scratched the back of my head trying to think of something to say, “uh, he’s new, he just moved here like a day ago.”  
  
“Name?”  
  
“uh G-Gerard, his names Gerard.”  
  
Her lips curled into a small smirk and she crossed her arms over her chest, “you sure he’s just a friend? You’re getting awfully red in the cheeks for someone who’s  _just a friend_.”  
  
“He’s a friend!” I got a little huffy with my insisting, which probably wasn’t the best method of trying to convince my mother he was just a friend.  
  
The smirk stayed plastered on her face as she turned and left the room, “sure honey, whatever you say.”  
  
I covered my face with my hands and let out an irritated moan. A small giggle came from underneath the bed and instantly a scowl set on my face, oddly contrasting my flaming cheeks. I slung myself over the bed, letting my upper body hang over the edge so I could look underneath at Gerard. He was lying on his back with a hand over his mouth to try stifle his giggling. He turned his head to see me and let out a full cackle at my expense.  
I creased my brow in irritation trying to cover up my mortification, “shut up Gerard.”


	9. Chapter 9

_**“It's so much darker when a light goes out than it would have been if it had never shone.” - John Steinbeck** _

_**~*~** _

I slumped at my locker slowly placing each one of my books into the metal compartment. I heard a few distant giggles and the echo of shoes trickle through the hallways as the last of the students emptied out of the school and allowed the weekend to begin. I would be assisting to that echo, but my mother would get suspicious if I was suddenly home in record time and I had told Mikey to meet me at my locker after school, so therefore sulking at my locker was my time-passing method.  
  
Usually Friday afternoons left me feeling highly unsatisfied with the fact I had achieved nothing during the school day but totally apathetic also considering I had to two days of complete nothingness to attempt to rectify the fact. However fully knowing also that I wouldn’t; it was a cycle of denial basically. I mean sure there was homework, but procrastination until late Sunday night was the main method of getting work complete. I worked on the simple premise that I wouldn’t do it unless left to the last minute where I had no other option but to do it. Teachers liked to grunt and scowl at the lack of effort, and insist that I get a study schedule and work to my full potential, but hey, as long as the work was done what did they care - legibility wasn’t really  _that_  big of a deal, I mean I could read it, so why can’t they? Effort that’s why; it was slightly contradictory, they wanted me to put in more effort, when they weren’t prepared to appreciate what I had actually done purely because it would take some squinting and guessing as to what letters formed what words.

I held up a sheet of paper covered in my scrawl; okay so it was pretty bad, everything looked like a big mess of blue ink, but at least I did the damn homework.  
I scrunched up the paper and threw it to the back of my locker before a small cough brought me from my thoughts. I quickly grabbed my backpack and slammed the door shut; a harsh ringing ricocheting off the walls. I turned expecting to see Mikey but instead came face to face with Bob. I recoiled a little as he was extremely close, our noses nearly touching kind of close.  
  
“Uh, hey Bob,” I smiled trying to seem less standoffish.  
  
Bob grinned not having noticed my slight resistance, “hey Frank.”  
  
We stood slightly awkwardly for a moment, he obviously had something to say, I mean he wouldn’t have waited behind for me if not.  
“Uhm, is there something I can help with?”  
  
He looked slightly dazed for a moment before speaking, “oh no, not really, I was just wondering why you weren’t at school yesterday, I asked Mikey this morning but he was dragged off by Ray before he could answer,” he let out a small sigh, “I get the feeling Ray may hate me, I don’t know why, but he’s been nothing but a douchebag to me since I got here.”  
  
“Dude, sorry, I was sick yesterday. If I’d known Ray would have been a bother for you I would have come to school,” I paused, thoughts of Ray beginning to bombard my mind, “Ray, he-he never used to be like this, I swear, he was honestly a really awesome guy. But all of a sudden, it’s like as soon as someone even looks at Mikey he turns into some kind of animal. But hey, at least you’re not the only one, he’s been shitty to me too.”  
  
Bob beamed and lightly laughed, “well, I won’t lie, that does make me feel a little better.”  
  
I opened my mouth about to say a goodbye to Bob when footsteps began to encroach, followed by angry whispers. I could differentiate between two pitches, indicating two people, but they were still around the corner of the hallway and out of view. Undoubtedly unaware of our presence they continued to converse in harsh hushed words and Bob was obviously as curious of an individual as myself. He quirked an eyebrow before nodding toward the end of hallway and silently setting off. I followed closely behind trying to abstain from making my shoes squeak against the flooring. We perched next to a locker that was close enough to the end of the hallway so that we could at least hear some of the conversation.  
  
The first voice was slightly higher and rougher than the other and seemed to be the more forceful of the two, “I’m telling you it’s a bad idea! You cannot go tonight. We shouldn’t even be discussing this!”  
  
“What the fuck are you on about? It’s basically a family dinner! His mother invited us over, I can’t just not go because things are little awkward. Besides it’s the perfect opportunity to fix things with Frank,” the second voice was laced in desperation and I mentally slapped myself for not realising who it was sooner. Mikey and Ray.  
  
“You’re not going, and that’s final!”  
  
“Dude, you’re not my mother, I’m not going to do what you tell me too, alright? Look we’re friends right, but Frank is my best friend and I may have fucked our relationship up completely, so I need to fix it. I know you care, and thank you, but sometimes you’re a little overbearing, just back off a bit, let me sort myself out, okay?”  
  
“What about what I told you before huh? What about that? You just going to ignore it, pretend like you never knew?” Ray snapped, no longer bothering to whisper.  
  
Mikey stuttered on his answer, making me increasing suspicious of what Ray had told him, “that’s exactly why I need to go tonight! We need to talk things over.”  
  
A loud scoff came from presumably Ray, “you’re gonna’ regret going tonight Mikey. You’re too easy, too trusting and it’s going to fuck you over sooner or later.”  
  
Instantly I shot up from my hiding spot, anger beginning to pulsate at my temples. Fucking Ray, he certainly was living to his asshole status, but treating Mikey like that was taking things one step too far. I tried to look as inconspicuous as possible, and not like I had been listening to the conversation for the past five minutes. I just had to refrain from hitting Ray; I could manage –  _hopefully_. I turned the corner and saw Mikey backed up against the wall with Ray looming over him.  
  
I smirked at Ray, “not interrupting anything am I?”  
  
Mikey seemed to relax and slipped away from Ray toward me, “uh no, we’re just talking, I was on my way to see you.”  
  
Ray’s face contorted into pure hatred as he glared directly at me. I took a step back and bumped into Bob who had, at some point, slinked up behind me. I felt a little less fucking petrified, at least if Ray did initiate something I’d have at least Bob to help me out.  
  
Mikey smiled as he noticed Bob behind me, “hey Bob,” he quickly looked over at me, “is Bob coming over for dinner too?”  
  
I moved to the side a little to allow Bob some more space so he could answer for himself. Bob was obviously a little worried with Ray constantly staring and snarling at him but answered nonetheless, “uh no, my grandparents come over for dinner on Fridays anyways.”  
  
I felt a little bad for not inviting him, but he had plans, so it made me a feel a little bit better.  
  
“Sorry about the invite dude, next time you definitely have to come, and Ray well, maybe if you decided to stop looking at me like you want to tear my throat out I’d invite you too.”  
  
Ray took a step forward and was practically seething resentment, “fuck you Iero, you too Bryar.”  
  
Mikey was a little taken aback, “Ray? The fuck is wrong with you today?”  
  
“Nothing, see you later Mikey,” Ray made sure to give one last hint of glaring daggers at us before storming off down the corridor.  
  
Mikey was almost gobsmacked into silence, “I, sorry dude, he’s – I don’t know. Frank, he’s never been like this before, y’know, all angry and aggressive. And Bob, dude, I know he’s been an ass to you, but I thought I was just a ' _for fun'_  thing.”  
  
Bob just shrugged seemingly unfazed, “it’s alright, I think I better head home though, my mother will have a fit if I’m late. See you guys on Monday.”  
  
Mikey and I shared a ‘bye’ in unison and Bob headed off in the opposite direction to Ray. I turned to Mikey and offered a smile that I hoped projected some kind of reassurance.  
  
Mikey was almost piteous with his reply, “Jesus, Frank I am so sorry-“  
  
I held up my hand to silence him, “it’s okay, let’s just forget about Ray.”  
  
He nodded dejectedly, “uhm, you text me before, told me to meet you?”  
  
“Oh yeah, I was wondering if you wanted to walk home with me? I mean your parents are coming over later, so you may as well spend the afternoon right?”  
  
Mikey’s features lightened and I saw the first genuine Mikey Way smile I’d seem in almost a week. I realised just how much I’d missed this; us. The old Mikey and me, where there was no relationship worries, no Ray being an ass, it was just us and nothing more mattered.  
  
“Sure, thanks Frank.”  
  
Mikey and I opted for silence as we walked along the mostly empty streets to my house. It was a mutual mental connection that kept both silent, we had so much to say and yet silence seemed to speak words neither of us could possibly fathom. However we both knew this wasn’t to last, eventually we would need to speak, but decided to leave that until we reached the safe confines of my room. My body tensed as I remembered; Gerard.  _Fuck_. I hadn’t even thought of telling him that Mikey was coming over. Scenarios of their meeting played through my thoughts, all of them containing two common factors – Mikey being his polite self and Gerard complaining about me keeping him in a wardrobe – which was the truth, partially, but it didn’t need to be shared.  
  
A grip on my shoulder brought me back to reality. Mikey was staring at me his mouth slightly ajar obviously waiting for me to answer something he’d asked.  
  
“Uh, sorry?” I tried to look innocent, and not like I’d completely ignored him.  
  
“Your house? You nearly walked straight past it. Are you okay?”  
  
“Oh well look at that,” I chuckled trying to lighten the mood, “I’m fine, come on, mum and dad should be home in like an hour so the house is ours.” I instantly squinted my eyes in frustration and brought my palm to my face. For someone not trying to give the wrong idea, saying that the house was ours was easily the most stupid thing I could have said.  
  
I heard a small happy noise emit from Mikey’s throat, “sounds good.”  
  
We meandered through the house eventually ending up outside my bedroom door, grabbing soda and a cookies on the way. I stood and stared at the white painted wood for maybe a moment too long. I don’t know what I was waiting for - x-ray vision would have been too much of a blessing right now. Not a sound travelled through the door, so I hoped that Gerard had hear us arrive and had hidden in time.  
  
“Frank?” Mikey stood behind me utterly confused, “you gonna’ open the door?”  
  
I coughed trying to cover up the simmering panic attack, “yeah, yes. The door. Uh, yes I’m gonna’ open it.” I closed my eyes and wrapped my hand around the brass knob before pushing the door open. I peered into the room to see it nearly spotlessly clean and also no Gerard. I stood in a relieved stupor as Mikey pushed passed me and dumped his bag onto the floor.  
  
I grinned and crossed my arms as I watched him filter through the books on the shelf, letting a few fall to the floor, “oh don’t mind the cleanliness, make yourself at home!”  
  
Mikey smiled, “it’s not a problem, I’ll make sure to leave this room looking like a real Frank Iero bedroom instead of this ‘sporadic motherly invasion of cleanliness’, you and clean don’t make a good pair.”  
  
“I find that highly offensive, and highly accurate. Time spent cleaning is time wasted.”  
  
“Agreed,” Mikey nodded as he fell down onto the bed with a pile of comics.  
  
We spent nearly the entirety of the hour alone reading in silence. It had taken nearly half of that time for me to realise where Gerard had hidden. Trying my best to be inconspicuous I had opened the wardrobe an inch to ‘retrieve more comics’ – well that’s what Mikey thought I was doing, anyways, I found it empty. Not even a sign that Gerard had even been in the wardrobe, which then left me feeling almost nauseated considering if he wasn’t in the wardrobe then where the hell was he. As much as I had hoped, Mikey was getting increasingly irritated and suspicious of my weird behaviour, and no matter how many times I tried to lie about it, his blank stare and “are you fucking kidding me” look basically solidified that he knew I was lying. And on top of all that it just so happened that Gerard deciding to be an ass and Mikey’s patience waring out were synonymous with one another.  
  
We were both sprawled out on the bed, and for the last few minuted my body had broken out in a cold anxious sweat, and with our close proximity it wasn’t long before Mikey got a little concerned with my noticeable perspiration. Although being polite as he is, he didn’t say a word, but I saw him stealing confused glances at the hair that was starting to stick to my brow. It was when my t-shirt began to stick to the skin on my back that Mikey finally decided to say something, however his opportunity was cut short from my high pitched squealing. Gerard had been hidden under the bed the entire time, and took the liberty to grab onto my foot that was hanging over the edge of the bed, successfully scaring the absolute shit out of my already panicking body.  
  
Naturally Mikey looked at me as though I was a foreign entity and had gone completely mental. His eyebrows had perched themselves far above the rim of his glasses and he was leaning back, seemingly as a safety precaution. Also Gerard’s off pitch guffawing from under the bed probably wasn’t helping, because as far as Mikey knew the laughter was phantom and basically erupting from thin air – he didn’t have the slightest of ideas that there was another person in the room. His shock at my scream, his confusion as the too the phantom laughing and his questioning of my unnatural perspiration all seemed to engulf his mind at once and it was clearly evident through the mix of emotion imprinted on his face.  
  
I sat up on the bed and held my hands in a calming, peaceful manner, “uh I can explain.”  
  
Mikey looked livid for a moment before clearing his throat, evidently trying to ignore Gerard’s, who was still out of sight, continuing laughter, “what the fuck is happening right now. You are sweating like it’s the middle of summer, you screamed like a six year old, and I am hearing laughter that does not belong to either of us but I am not seeing another person. Now either I am losing my mind, or you put some sort of fucking drug in our sodas and I am tripping right now.”  
“Would you believe me if I told you it was neither?”  
  
“Probably not, but I’ll give you a chance considering I don’t like either of other options.”  
I crawled off the bed as Mikey stood on the other side and watched wide eyed, “okay so there is someone I’d like you to meet.” Mikey’s eyebrows now disappeared underneath the stray pieces of hair that fell on his forehead. I looked down to see Gerard trying to scramble away from me under the bed.  
  
“Get your ass back here,” I grumbled and I bent down and curled my fingers around the collar of his shirt earning a small mewl from Gerard as I hauled him up next to me. Mikey’s mouth hung agape as he took in the boy next to me. Gerard was still giggling lightly at my misfortune, but still managed to get out a small greeting and a little wave.  
  
Mikey’s eyes jumped between the pair of us when suddenly his expression changed from confused to hostile, “Frank Iero,” I was about to answer when Mikey took a large step towards me, “you went back didn’t you? After I specifically told you not too, you went back to the fucking house and to make things worse, you stole a fucking child! You have to take him back! For fucks sake, did you really think this was a good idea!?”  
  
I crossed my arms in defence and tried to look menacing, I knew it wasn’t working, but it was worth a try, “first of all he’s not a child, secondly I had to go back, and I had to get him out of there, you don’t know what he’s been through Mikey, he wasn’t safe and he sure as hell isn’t going back!”  
  
“Yes he is! You are gonna take him back right fucking now!” Mikey snapped and grabbed onto Gerard’s forearm.  
  
“You’ll have to kill me first before he goes anywhere near that house!”  
  
“That can be arranged,” Mikey’s snide remark was assisted with the skin of his knuckles turning white as Gerard whimpered from the tightening grip.  
  
The sound of Gerard’s tiny whines and mewls ignited an animalistic reaction from the pit of my stomach that swam through every vein and trickled along each nerve. I lunged at Mikey ripping his grip away from Gerard and pushed him away; my mouth curled into a snarl. Gerard shuffled behind me and held onto his arm covering the small discolorations that were flowering into bruises under the skin from Mikey’s fingertips.  
  
Mikey looked at me in pure shock as he stumbled backward, “Frank, I – you,” incoherence was flowing off lips as he tried to piece together what had transpired. “Frank you, you have to take him back. Look at you, you’re worried about his safety but I don’t think you’re exactly a safe option, you, you fucking growled at me!”  
  
“You hurt him, what did you expect me to do! Laugh?”  
  
“No! Of course, but I just didn’t expect my best friend to turn into a fucking animal!”  
  
I cast my eyes downward, “Look, Mikey, I’m sorry okay, I shouldn’t have reacted that way, I just – I don’t know, something happened.”  
  
Mikey glared at me, “I know exactly what fucking happened! I know what’s going on here. Don’t fucking lie to me Frank. You go and tell Ray all this shit about how you feel about me, and then I find out you’re already fucking some freak! Well fuck you too Frank Iero. I fucking hate you.” Tears were flowing down Mikey’s bright cheeks as he screamed at me and then grabbed his bag. Het let out one last cry before storming out of the house and slamming the front door.  
  
Had Gerard not been standing behind me I was sure I would have collapsed. My chest began to ache and I felt my stomach churn in pure anguish. My breathing began to pick up as I tried to get enough air into my straining lungs. This wasn’t how things were supposed to happen. Words began to drip from my lips in a mumbled mess, and I was sure that I had finally lost my mind. In comparison to losing my best friend, losing my mind was trivial; I’d rather be crazy with someone I loved than completely sane and utterly alone.


	10. Chapter 10

**_"I have always felt terrible. The reasons for this keep changing." - Benjamin Alire Sáenz_ **

**_~*~_ **

I sat on the edge of the bed staring intently at my feet. I could feel Gerard's stare lingering on me, waiting for me to do - say something, anything. There was only one thing we could do, well, something I could do, this isn't Gerard's fault so I wouldn't expect his help, and especially after how Mikey had treated him he probably would want nothing to do with him.  
  
The silence physically ached, pricking at my skin and scraping at my insides, I'd never felt more horrible than I did now and with Gerard sitting and waiting for me to fix everything, I felt like the weight of the world had been dumped on my shoulders. Mikey had disappeared as here I was worrying about what Gerard thought of me, things would never have gone down the way they did if I had bothered to listen to my best friend, rather than worry about the boy next to me. But who was I kidding, the boy next to me was pulling the strings attached to my heart, he was my puppeteer, I'd invested myself in him, if he wanted his way with me not for a second would I deny him - and the worst part was, he didn't even know.  
  
I didn't even register what I was saying until Gerard looked at me with eyes wide, "we have to go after him."  
  
"What!?," Gerard grabbed onto my shoulders and stared at me, "you don't even know where he went, plus it's getting dark out."  
  
"I can't just stay here, his parents are going to be here for dinner and they'll expect that he's here too. I can't exactly tell them that he ran off crying because of me again. And you're right, it is getting dark, that's why I need to go now, something could happen to him."  
  
Gerard watched as I shook off his grasp and slipped on a pair of chucks. I heard him murmur something as he viciously picked at the loose strands on his hoodie.  
  
"Huh?" I paused at waited for him to respond.  
  
He kept his eyes down and his hands busy and responded in a tiny voice, "something could happen to you."  
  
I knelt down on the floor in front of where Gerard was seated and placed my hand gently under his chin, but he refused to make eye contact and his lip began to quiver slightly.  
  
"Hey," I cooed, "Gee, it's okay, I'll be fine. I grew up here - I know these streets and where's safe and where's not. I won't be long, I'll go and find Mikey, make sure he's safe, then come right back."  
  
Despite my efforts, Gerard let the tears begin to drip and cascade down his tinted cheeks, "but what if you don't. What if you don't come back. You're all I've got Frank. I can't lose you too. Not now," he launched himself forward and sunk into my body, wrapping his frail arms around me.  
I lightly rubbed small circles along his back and gently breathed reassurance in his ear but it did little to soften the burning anguish in my chest as his body shook in my hold. The pure simplicity in the fact that I had brought tortuous sorrow to the two people I held most dear in the span of an hour almost made me feel even worse about my being. How is it physically possible for someone to be such a harbinger of unhappiness, it's not like I purposely wanted those around me to suffer and yet I seemed to be very talented in making it happen.  
  
Gerard pulled away from the hug first and instantly I felt myself wanting his arms around my waist again. He sniffled and wipe away a few stray tears, "I'm coming with you."  
  
"No."  
  
"Yes."  
  
"No!," I protested, "you can't come."  
  
Gerard huffed, "if you don't willingly allow me to go with you, then I will follow you. I'm going one way or another."  
  
I rubbed the palms on my hands against my eyes and let out a groan, "there's no way I'm going to win this is there?"  
  
Gerard shook his head with a small smirk, "nope."  
  
"Fine, put on some shoes and grab a torch," I sighed and ran my fingers through my hair in frustration. Despite there being no immediate danger other than the average renegade that every town and city has lurking in the back alleys I couldn't swallow the lump of concern in the back of my throat. Taking Gerard with me just didn't feel right. Thoughts of someone even touching Gerard were acting as catalysts for protective rages I found myself falling into, and I was sure that normal people didn't feel this way toward friends.  
  
Gerard and I quickly and awkwardly stumbled down the stairwell and began to hurry toward the front door when the light sound of humming travelled from the kitchen. I let my head hit against the wall in irritation - of course my mother had to be home early, of fucking course. I turned to Gerard and placed my finger over my lips to assure he wouldn't make a sound, we just had to get past the kitchen, not to difficult. Actually, no, it is too difficult because as Gerard and I crept passed the doorway the high pitched sound of my mothers voice rang in my ears.  
  
"Frankie! I didn't know you had invited your guest over already!," my mother beamed and  
sported a red lipstick framed smile, "you must be Gerard, Frank's spoken very fondly of you." She slipped a small wink at my reddening face.  
  
Gerard wrapped and arm around my shoulder, "Oh? Really Frankie? How kind! It's a pleasure to meet you Mrs Iero."  
  
Gerard strode forward and shook my mothers’ hand whilst flattering her over her choice of dress. I was sure my face was red, from mortification and anger.  
  
My mother let out a loud chortle, "oh Gerard, you have to come and visit more often. Frank I can't believe you never invited Gerard around before!"  
  
I forced a smile that turned into more of a grimace, "you know I can't imagine any reason why I haven't either. Now sorry mum, but Gerard and I really have to go, we've got some stuff to do."  
  
My mothers' grin turned into a sly smile, "oh, well you two boys have fun now, just make sure you're back when Mikey and his parent's get here, okay Frank?"  
  
I grabbed hold of Gerard's wrist and dragged him out of the kitchen, throwing a loud "yes," as we made it to the front door.  
  
"Your mum's nice," Gerard commented quietly as we were walking down the front path.  
  
"Yeah, and you're a little shit sometimes," I uttered giving him a slight nudge with my shoulder.  
  
Gerard giggled and returned the favour, "don't complain, you love it."  
  
I just grinned to myself, I most certainly did love it.  
  
 **~*~**  
The icy night air began to break through our jacket barricades and nip at any exposed flesh, The sun had nearly completed it descent in the sky and warped streaks of oranges and pinks were slowly turning into navy blues and blacks. We'd been out for over an hour, walking side by side, in a peaceful but tense silence. We checked every street, every back ally, behind every tree in the park but our efforts were in vain, there was no sign of Mikey anywhere.  
  
A constant lurching in my stomach arose and pure dread followed every time we searched a place and found nothing because it always meant that we were running out of options. Gerard huffed and kicked a loose stone next to the last dumpster in the area. He shook his head and looked pitifully at me. No Mikey here either I guess. That was it, we'd searched the entity of the area, top to bottom, and no Mikey. I had fought back the occasional wandering of my mind every so often to the possible chance he'd gone into the forest over the past hour. But we were out of options, there was nothing left, we'd have to go in there and we had to go now.  
  
"Gee," Gerard looked over me from his place against the brick wall of the ally, "I think I know where he may be, but you're not gonna' like it."  
  
Gerard looked at me confusedly, but the second the realization of where we had to go hit him with brute force. His entire face fell and his eyes sparked with the terror that I had seen when I first met him.  
  
"It's okay, you uh, you can go back home, to my place, and I'll go alone. It's not safe for you to go back there, chances are he's been looking for you."  
  
His adam's apple bobbed as he gulped loudly, "no, I'm, I'm going with you. I just - bad memories y'know."  
  
I flashed a reassuring smile and took hold of his hand in mine, "just stick close to me, and keep a hold of your torch, it's gonna' be pitch black soon but we can't leave Mikey in the forest all night."  
  
Gerard became totally pliant as I lightly applied pressure to his hand and towed him along a few steps behind me. It wasn't so much that I had to force his movements but more so the fact that he was locked in a fearful state of apprehension for whatever could be waiting beyond the treeline and this was directly affecting his ability to move his legs at a steady pace. I'd be lying if I claimed that the feeling wasn't mutual, but one of us had to muster up some form of deranged and false courage to get us past the front line of trees.  
  
We approached the tree line, and the idea of turning away and running was extremely enticing. We both froze as the limbs of the looming pines began to reach out toward us, sharp and protruding the thick darkness behind it. The ripple of barn owl’s hooting sliced through the eerie silence and almost softened the atmosphere, almost.  
  
“You sure as hell had some balls coming here in the middle of the night alone,” Gerard commented with his neck still craning up at the pines.  
  
“Stupidity,” I corrected, “I had a lot of stupidity coming here, at night, alone.”  
  
I saw Gerard’s mouth curl up at the edges a little, “well yeah, but you didn’t have to come here to be stupid, you already had that pretty well covered.”  
  
“Asshole,” I grinned, “come on, we need to be quick.”  
  
I took in a heavy breathe of air and stepped forward, exiting the town and entering the forest. Gerard followed close behind me as we lightly stepped along the rough path etched into the ground, sticks and leaves cracked and crunched underfoot sending the sound reverberating through the trees. Gerard’s fingers occasionally curled tightly around the material of the back of my jacket whenever a nocturnal animal made a sudden movement, or when his perceptions started to warp in the darkness, creating things that weren’t truly there.  
  
A thick dewy mist began to rise from the ground and lingered, twisting and embracing our fragile bodies with an ethereal delicacy. The darkness had fully settled around us, brooding and thick, leaving us with the illusion that we had less air then was truly available. The further we walked, the deeper the dread became as it swam through my veins, settling in more places than just my stomach, and forcing me to stop in the middle of a tiny clearing. The sliver moonlight fought through the pines and illuminated the clearing with dim lustre. Gerard’s pale skin radiated the moonlight and a ghostly glow settled upon his face as we both stood and faced one another. Our breaths were short and laboured producing bursts of white mists to escape our lips and intermingle in the night air.  
  
Gerard keep his gaze locked on mine and took a small step forward, his body heat instantly filling the empty space between us. His eyes flickered down to my lips before he inched forward with another minuscule step, however this time a small squelch sounded as his foot contacted the ground. Instantly he pulled back and looked down as the dark patch that surrounded his shoe.  
  
He looked at me with bewilderment, “it hasn’t rained today, has it?”  
  
I took a moment to reply as I brought my senses away from Gerard’s close proximity, “uh-n-no, why?”  
  
Gerard bent down and dipped the tip of his fingers into the black liquid, “turn the torch on.”  
  
I complied and clicked the small plastic button. A burst of white light illuminated Gerard’s milky hand that had two red streaks running down his fingers. Blood. The black liquid pool turned a deep crimson with the light and Gerard’s fingertips were cherry red with the blood stark against his milky skin. Gerard looked up at me his eyes wide and petrified as the realisation hit him and he began incessantly wiping his hands against his jeans.  
  
A sharp crack cut through our silence and Gerard launched his frame at mine, clutching at whatever he could wrap his small fingers around. My heartbeat was erratic and thundered in the back of my ears as I shuffled on the spot and flung the torch around trying to locate the cause of the sound. Flashes and of red reflected off the torchlight as it flew past the surrounding trees. Gerard’s breaths were heavy and sporadic in my ear as he buried his face in my neck and I forced myself to still and wrap an arm around his lower back. I cooed gently in his ear as I raised the torch and slowly hovered it over each of the trees lining the clearing. Red splatters adorned the bark and leaked down the trunks of the trees. Gerard’s head twisted a little and he whispered a small “oh god” as he saw the bloody display on the trees.  
  
A guttural torturous scream rang throughout the trees and its echoed lingered amongst the pine needles. This time it was me who tightened the grip of the embrace. Our heads snapped to the direction of the cry and the familiar yellow glow hovered in the darkness.  
  
Gerard twisted his fingers with mine and tremored, “He’s got Mikey.”


	11. Chapter 11

**_"History remembers the battle but forgets the blood_ _."- Seth Grahame-Smith_ **

**_~*~_ **

Gerard and I kept our eyes locked onto the foreign yellow glow of the house, such a sight should ignite a sense of warmth and security but with echoes of the scream still lingering in the air nothing but fear ran through our blood. Gerard’s fingernails dug into the soft flesh on the back of my hand distracting me from the churning sensation in my stomach enough that I began to move forward toward the glow. I kept the torch low and dim, ignoring the black puddles and streaks across the trees as we moved closer to the house. The blood increased the closer we got, painting and tinting nearly every available surface. Whatever he’d done to Mikey, he had bled out, and it had spurted and splattered macabrely decorating the grass and trees.  
  
We moved through the darkness trying to ignore the hushed whispers of the leaves as they rustled, and followed the hoary mist that floated and danced along the haphazard path. The air turned sour as fetid trails of air swept leaked through the cracked windows of the manor. Gerard and I stopped in the same spot where we had first met, and cast our eyes upon the dark outline against the moonlight sky. It hadn’t been a week since I last saw the manor and yet, the sempiternal beauty of the Victorian inspired home had been abolished, replaced with a façade of fiendish deviance and utter sorrow. Decrepit as the house was, now it bore the wounds of not age, but anger. Deep gashes sliced through once clean skin of the wood, the glass on the windows was cracked and smashed – completely obliterated in some places, and the vines snaked and coiled around loose boards and pipes at their own leisure. The few curtains that fluttered through the broken windows were torn and had russet tones splattered on the white surface.  
  
Gerard’s period bursts of white mist halted as his breath hitched. I instantly tightened the grip our hands were embraced in and focused all my attention on his tremoring body. His glassy eyes reflected the silver of the moon behind the house as he locked his gaze with mine and let a few tears delicately cascade down his cheeks.  
  
“I’m so sorry Frank,” he whispered hoarsely placing his hands gently on my cheeks, holding my face gently, “please forgive me.”  
  
His lips pressed against mine chastely, hands secured to my face holding me in place, while he tipped his head deepening the kiss. My hands slithered down his sides and rested lightly on his waist pulling his body closer to mine as I began to move my lips against his. I felt the gentle warmth of his tears as more ran down his cheeks and settled between our lips making them slick and moist, allowing us to glide with one another almost effortlessly. The soft of his stomach pressed into mine and the erratic movements of his heart thrummed against my body as I quickly ran out of air. I pulled away, our noses and foreheads still resting on one another’s, and let out small pants refilling my lungs with the sting of icy air. Gerard’s light hazel irises were almost eradicated by his dilated pupils and together like that we stayed, sinking into one another, drowning the black of our lustful eyes, savouring the taste of the other’s lips, falling into the caress of infatuation.  
  
Gerard swiped his tongue over his glistening lips, “we have to get Mikey.”  
  
I nodded and leant forward, lightly placing my lips over his for a just a moment. “Thank you,” I breathed against his slightly parted mouth.  
  
Gerard smiled slightly and told hold of my hand pulling me alongside him as we stepped out from protection of the trees and into the palm of our potential demise. The monstrosity - Gerard’s previous owner, had the supremacy, had the ease of unnatural abilities to aid him, but, we had the determination, and more importantly we had each other.  
  
The floorboards creaked and squealed underfoot as we stepped up the rickety stairs encroaching further on the manor. Soon enough I stood face to face with a disfigured gargoyle door knocker, the eye sockets held small red gemstones, its face was contorted into an almost beckoning manner, as if challenging me to knock on the door for pure curiosity. I wrapped my fingers around the brass ring and pulled it back ready to let it fall, but Gerard gripped tightly onto my elbow, halting the movement.  
  
“Maybe we should try to get in without being seen, or heard. He’ll figure out I’m there eventually but at least you can get a chance to get Mikey and get out.”  
  
I gently place the knocker back against the wood without a sound and looked over at Gerard, “I’m not leaving this house without you. No matter what the cost.”  
  
A small noise of protest escaped his lips before I stopped him from countering my statement with my index finger over his lips. He huffed in annoyance and turned away from me, pressing his body against the wooden door so that it quietly creaked open. The luminescence of candle light shone through the crack in the door coating our bodies in a yellow-gold glow, and for the first time since we entered the forest I got a proper look at Gerard. His eyes were irritated and red along with his tear stained and puffy cheeks, and the skin around and on his lips was blotchy and pink from where I had tugged a little too much. Despite looking utterly defeated he also looked more determined than ever, though it wasn’t revenge he wanted, it was Mikey, even after Mikey had treated him so horridly, all he wanted was for him to be safe. Gerard was admirable, his soul and motivations were pure and completely selfless, with such a personality as his, so gentle and almost passive, why he had chosen me – someone so unlike him - I’d never understand.  
  
“Frank?” Gerard looked back at me from halfway through the open doorway, “you alright?”  
  
I ran my fingers though my hair to calm my thoughts, “yeah, yeah I’m okay. We’d better hurry.”  
  
Gerard nodded and turned back to the house taking a few more steps, and I followed closely behind. Stepping into the warmth of the home, I expected cobwebs, and dank dark corners with rotting wood and gothic styled gargoyles perched on the walls. However it was, homely, neutral tones and inviting. The sitting room at the front of the house had a small fireplace with flames flicking and dancing along the wooden logs, and a few armchairs sounding it. From there the kitchen, white, clean and pristine, just as one would expect in a normal home. However it was the petrifying cry of silence that lingered throughout the house that made the hairs on my neck prickle and send tremors down my spine.  
  
Gerard spun a little, his head whipping from side to side, “this - this isn’t right. The house looked nothing like this when I left.” He took a tentative step forward toward the hallway down the centre of the home. The light from the sitting room illuminated the first metre or so, but was quickly drowned by the heavy black languishing and deeming the wall sconces useless. A light gust of wind howled from the looming abyss, brushing tendril of hair from my face and causing the candles to flicker violently. A cacophony of wails and moans floated and seeped along the air as it flew past our bodies.  
  
Gerard pursed his lips in worry, “he’s in the basement,” he said quietly before moving forward, allowing the darkness to embrace his stature and drag him out of sight.  
  
I let out a small groan of apprehension before following. Small nips of icy air travelled and pervaded my body, the sconces on the walls became dimmer and dimmer the further we walked increasing the sense of cold that was strung in the air.  
  
The small amounts of light reflected off Gerard’s slightly greasy hair, assuring me that he was only a step ahead, although my stomach was still churning in angst. The hallway stayed straight, but each step felt like making jagged turns throughout a labyrinth of musty carpet and peeling wallpaper. Everything looked so disturbingly similar, but utterly different, however Gerard never stopped striding forward, and so, neither did I.  
  
A hushed litany of expletives encroached on our hearing and Gerard stopped abruptly. I lightly bumped into his back before looking over his shoulder, if it was possible, the darkness got darker as a set of stairs descended down, underneath the house and into the earth. Our hands desperately clutched with one another’s and together we took the first of many steps down the rotting staircase. The wood creaked and I grinded down on my bottom lip wincing every time a creak turned into a sharp squeal with the applied pressure of our bodies. However the light drone of whispers and mutterings still dripped through the darkness and into our ears, asserting that there was indeed someone hidden amongst the black.  
  
The clomping of feet against wood subsided as we made it to the bottom of the staircase and the steady grazing of rock debris crunched as we moved deeper into the basement. Gerard once again led the way, obviously having been brought down here before, to the singular doorway illuminated with an aggressive burst of lurid light. Gerard tugged me along behind him as we lightly stepped towards the open door. The metallic scent of blood burned at my nostrils and an unmistakeable fetid scent of charred flesh hung in the stale air. Images of the horrid things he had done to Mikey flickered through my mind and I had to swallow back the sting of bile as I retched slightly. We made it to the doorway and immediately saw the blood spattered and stained floors. Gerard gripped tightly on the ring the dangled around his neck before nodding that it was safe to look. I knew to some degree of what to expect, but nothing could have prepared me for what I saw.  
  
His body was chained to the wall with droplets of blood sliding down his mutilated limbs from the shackles wrapped around his wrist and ankles. A deep gash ran across his neck and loose arteries spurted sporadic burst of blood to splash on the stone floor. Needles were lodged in the soft flesh along his arms and the skin around it had blackened and bubbled from the caustic liquid that drained into his muscles. Fresh open wounds lacerated the milky skin of his stomach and tissue and tendons hung, dripping crimson and adding to the puddle under his elevated feet. I felt the bile return, and the acidic burn as it coated my throat. I forced back a pained wail as I returned to his face and fell into the stare of the empty sockets on his face with optical nerves hanging loosely against his cheeks.  
  
I pulled my eyes away from the sockets and to the figure who stood hunched over a table. I grazed my eyes over his whitened knuckles as they wrapped around the edges of the metal surface in blind fury. Gerard stepped into the room, holding onto my hand so tightly my fingertips were turning blue. The man stiffened, but pulled himself upright and let out a cackle as he spun to face us. I instantly recoiled into Gerard as he sported a dastardly grin, with blood staining his prominent canines and rotting gums. The whites of his eyes dispersed and were replaced a haze of black as minuscule red irises erupted in the centres. Gerard held his necklace defiantly out before him, in a protective manner, and his face contorted into a snarl.  
My voice caught in my throat before thundered as far forward as Gerard would allow me.  
  
I glared at the demonic abomination before me, “you fucking monster! You killed him! You killed Bob!”  
  
My gut wrenched as there was no sign of Mikey, and he continued to grin and guffawed. He extended a bony finger ready to brush it lightly against my cheek, as he studied my features mumbling to himself, “fierce little thing aren’t you, very much unlike Gerard.”  
  
A low growl emitted from Gerard’s throat as his hand was mere millimetres from my cheekbone, “don’t touch him.”  
  
The man pulled his hand back and chuckled, “so now you have a little fight in you. How long did it take you to stop being the pathetic little pariah I so unfortunately obtained all those years ago?”  
  
“If it was so unfortunate then why’d you take me? Why!” Gerard demanded, his body was pulsating and seething with anger.  
  
“I thought he’d come after you, that’s why.”  
  
“Who?”  
  
“Little Michael of course!” the man paced, his hands locked behind his back and a small smile still formed on his lips, “he always was the better of you two, the fighter, he was what I wanted that day, but instead I got you. I had hoped that he would eventually come after me to find you, but alas he never did. So I did the next best thing. I came to him. Things were going smoothly too, until,” he gestured towards Bob’s limp body, “he got a little nosy, got in my way, and again Michael slipped from my grasp.”  
  
Gerard and I both breathed a small sigh of relief, Mikey was safe, I had no idea where he was but he wasn’t here and that’s all that mattered.  
  
“Don’t go getting all excited, Mikey will be here soon enough, I’ve sent my most trusted employee to retrieve him for me.”  
  
Gerard’s breathing halted for a moment, “but-but that means that, Mikey is my-“  
  
“Brother! Yes! Finally you figured it out! You were so close Gerard, he was there all along, but your stupidity once again prevailed. You know if you hadn’t listened to him,” he pointed a jarring finger at me, “then Mikey would have been brought here, you and your brother reunited, and everything would have been fine.”  
  
Gerard’s glassy eyes locked onto mine. I softened my features and placed a hand on his cheek, “Gee don’t listen to him. You know what he’s like, what he does, he’s lying to you.”  
  
A small laugh escaped the man’s lips, “you think you can make him turn against me? He’s mine, always has been and always will be. Soon enough Ray will be here with Mikey, and I’ll have everything I need. And you - you will take your last breath in this basement and I’ll leave your dismembered body down here to rot, while I leave and take my property with me.”  
  
Huffs of air shot from my nose, I was trembling with anger as he grinned in my face. The revelation of Ray being one of his pathetic henchmen didn’t strike me as surprising, it certainly explained why he was acting like a protective asshole over Mikey for the last week.  
  
Gerard was dithering beside me, his fingers clenching and loosening around the ring in his hand, he was fighting against the glorified lies that the man was feeding him but struggling in doing so. I couldn’t be mad at him for feeling that way, the man who had treated him as a commodity, and object to be owned and abused for so many years had filled his mind with falsities and pestilence; how hard it must have been to fight against the only thing you’ve known, I can’t even begin to comprehend.  
  
Suddenly Gerard face lit up, he smiled and wrapped his arms around me in a disturbingly gleeful embrace. I felt the brush of his breath as he whispered in my ear, “I know what to do.”  
  
I nodded a little dumfounded and unaware how to respond. The man eyed us sceptically before veins began to outline underneath the skin as his face ignited with fury, “don’t you dare Gerard.”  
  
Gerard smiled and pulled me closer to his side before chanting in a foreign language. He glared at the man as he moved forward but stopped before getting to either of us. Gerard was gleaming, “you can have all the power in the world, but there’s one force you can’t match,” he wrapped his arms tightly around my waist and pulled me closer to him, “love,” Gerard smashed our lips together, slick, needy and passionate.  
  
Garish beams of radiant silver light burned through the man’s skin as his body contorted in anguish and pain. He cried and cursed as the light erupted from his entire body disintegrating his limbs and innards. Despite the cries and wails and light radiating in the small room Gerard didn’t for one moment pull away. He kept his lips moving fiercely against mine, his arms tightening their grip and pulling me so that our bodies were pressed against each other from the chest down. The light dimmed, leaving the room back to its’ simple LED glow, and Gerard and I pulled apart panting heavily.  
  
We drew our eyes away from one another and looked at the small pile of silver ash, coruscating with the light that danced along its surface. Our attention was drawn to Bob’s body as the chains clinked and his skin peeled away, the muscles clumped and fell to the floor and his bones burst into tiny flecks of silver. Finally the tears began to seep from my eyes as I watched the last of the fleck flutter to the ground.  
  
Gerard quickly cupped my face and cooed gently, “hey, Frankie, what’s wrong? Did you know him?”  
  
I sniffled and let my face fall a little, “not really I suppose, he was new, started school this week. He didn’t deserve that, he was so gentle, he-he.”  
  
Gerard pulled me into a comforting hug and whispered gently in my ear, “I’m sorry,” he pulled back a little and rested his forehead against mine, wiping away the tears with the pad of his thumb, “we need to leave, Mikey is still missing and he said that there was someone after him, Ray was his name?”  
  
I let an involuntary growl rumble in the back of my throat, and Gerard looked slightly taken aback, “I’m guessing you know who Ray is?”  
  
“Yeah,” I grunted, “I certainly fucking do.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *hides in shame because of cliche chick flick influences forcing their way into the story*


	12. Chapter 12

**_"We may all deserve hell, but some of us deserve it sooner than others” - Seth Grahame-Smith_ **

**_~*~_ **

Gerard recoiled a little with my obvious disgust, which I found a little unsettling, I mean we were standing in a basement coated in pints of blood and had witnessed two dead bodies burst into ash, but me being angry was enough to set Gerard on edge. He didn’t say a word when he turned away and left the small room, then proceeded through the dark and up the stairwell. The mood upon making our exit was of total contrast to that of when we arrived. There was nothing that could appear from the shadows to strike us down, and so we had nothing to fear, but each step was as apprehensive as they had been when we arrived. It wasn’t as though we wanted to stay, but there was the concern, the paranoia that never seemed to release us from its malevolent grip, still lingering around our beings – making getting out of this house twice as hard as it should have been.  
  
I guess although we were trudging through a basically haunted house, I did just find myself in the midst of romantic-end-of-action-movie love scene, which made me feel a little queasy but also totally satisfied. I let out a small snort of laughter causing Gerard to look at me like I had finally fallen into insanity.  
  
“What?” he asked once we stopped at the top of the stairwell.  
  
I smirked and nudged his shoulder lightly, “love huh?”  
  
A light shade of red engulfed his cheeks, “shut up,” he mumbled.  
  
I let out a small giggle at his expense, “how’d you know that would work?”  
  
“I didn’t,” he said turning away and moving along the corridor.  
  
I was dumfounded for a moment, “wait, what?”  
  
“I didn’t know it would work, besides the whole ‘love’ thing didn’t’ really have anything to do with it,” he turned back at me and smiled, “I just wanted something dramatic to say before I kissed you.”  
  
I crossed my arms in mock superiority, “oh really? And you just knew that kissing me would do the job?”  
  
Gerard shrugged but his smiled widened showing off his irregular teeth, “he preached a lot about his enemy’s weakness were his strengths, so I thought that the same principle applied to me as well, and considering he was incapable of feeling emotion, I thought maybe a declaration of unadulterated emotion would cause his demise.” Both of us burst into a small fit of laughter, our happiness echoing through the empty halls. “It was kinda’ like in your comics, y’know - the hero falls in love with the girl at the end.”  
  
I feigned offence, “are you calling me a girl?”  
  
Gerard pondered for a moment, “hmm maybe.”  
  
“Bitch,” I teased and entwined his fingers with mine before dragging him alongside me down the hallway.  
  
I was one step away from escaping the house and allowing the night air to once again cradle me in its icy embrace, but Gerard tugged on my sleeve stopping me before I had the chance. He pulled me back and I let go of the front door letting it slam in my face, before huffing in annoyance.  
  
“Gerard what are-“he placed a fingertip over my mouth, successfully shutting me up. We stayed frozen in that position as Gerard moved his eyes around slowly and squinted. I opened my mouth to speak again, but a quick glare from Gerard made me think better of doing so.  
  
He leant in close and whispered, “you hear that?”  
  
I waited for a moment, and listened closely, “nope, nothing. Gerard can we just-“  
  
“Then! did you hear it just then!” Gerard looked at me like I was the one who was freaking out over a sound.  
  
I looked at Gerard in complete shock when I heard a litany of small whimpers and cries come from a small door that Gerard and I had completely overlooked.  
  
“Is, is that a person?” my voice was hushed as we crept toward the small door.  
  
Gerard knelt next to the door, “it’s the dumbwaiter,” he said before tapping the door gently, “hello?”  
  
A desperate moan and muffled cry came through as a response and Gerard wasted no time in wrenching the door open. I was prepared to see a lot of things when that door open but a bound and gagged Ray Toro was not one of them. Purple and blue bruises mottled his skin and dried blood was cracked in streams along his face and torso. I quickly pulled Gerard away from Ray’s mangled body, I was certainly not going to start trusting him again because he was injured.  
  
“Frank! What are you doing?” Gerard tried to wriggle out of my grip, “Frank! Let me go.”  
  
I turned to Gerard and glared, “I’m keeping you away from this sadistic asshole, that’s what I am doing.”  
  
“Wh-what are you talking about?” Gerard asked shifting his gaze between Ray and I.  
  
“Ray! This is fucking Ray!”  
  
Gerard looked utterly perplexed, and a little frightened, “but – but he said Ray was with Mikey? How can he be here?”  
  
I didn’t get a chance to reply as insistent muffles and groans sounded around the gag in Ray’s mouth.  
  
“Frankie, you gotta’ untie him, he might know where Mikey is,” Gerard tugged on the side of my jacket, looking crestfallen.  
  
I had to physically force my hands to untie the filthy rag secured around Ray’s head and had Gerard not been staring at me with his damn pleading eyes, I wouldn’t have done it at all. I muttered expletives as my fingers fiddled with the knots, cursing Ray, his family, even his stupid hair that got in the way of everything he did – and now was pissing me off beyond belief as it was tangled within the knots.  
  
“I’m not untying your hands, so don’t even bother asking,” I spat at him as I pulled away the cloth.  
  
His whole body lurched forward as large gasps of air were sucked into his lungs. He coughed a few times only to resume with another gulp of air seconds later. I shuffled away, even with his hands tied, Ray was unpredictable.  
  
“Jesus man, you haven’t been in there that long,” I said as his coughing didn’t ease up after a few minutes.  
  
Ray looked at me incredulously with his lips pursed in anger, “that long? Haven’t been in there that fucking long! I’ve been in there all week you fucking asshole!”  
  
I flinched back a little as he seethed at me, “b-but that’s impossible, you’ve been at school all week, and you’ve been a real ass all week too.”  
  
“No I haven’t, I’ve been locked in a dumbwaiter all damn week,” Ray huffed and wiped his hands over his face, “ _fuck_ , I’m sore and I’m tired and I’m not ready to deal with any doppelgänger shit right now.”  
  
Gerard scurried forward, “well too bad, because you – he - it has Mikey!”  
  
“Really Frank? One week you’re left alone to take care of Mikey and this shit happens,” he raised an eyebrow as he switched his gaze from me to Gerard, “and who the hell is this?”  
  
“That’s Gerard, Mikey’s brother,” I said nonchalantly.  
  
“Mikey doesn’t have a brother?”  
  
“Well he does now. Look, can we discuss this once we’re out of this house, Mikey is currently somewhere with a malevolent-evil-doppelgänger-thing of you, so we should probably get moving.”  
  
Ray nodded, “yeah, right, okay. Mikey – uhm – yeah let’s just go,” stumbling over his words he pulled himself up from the ground.  
  
I followed and hoisted Gerard along with me. We dusted off our jeans and let small clouds of brown flecks dissipate in the air. When I looked back up I noticed Ray staring at Gerard and I with his mouth slightly agape. I put my hands up to my face, feeling to see if there was something out of place before asking, “what?”  
  
Ray’s hands gesticulated wildly for a moment, “you, you’re covered in blood? What the hell happened?”  
  
I groaned and quickly began towards the front door, “the guy who is behind all this weird shit killed one of my friends, and then just some stuff happened and he basically exploded, okay. I’ll explain later, now come on, we don’t have time to talk about this.”  
  
I threw the door open and held it in place while Gerard and Ray quickly scurried out of the house and disappeared into the darkness. Despite the untamed frenzy of vines, branches and other foliage, we moved swiftly through the night. The familiar ominous feeling that lingered in the air, despite all that had happened, remained, keeping us all on edge. Whatever it was that was doubling as Ray most definitely had Mikey, and there was a fairly high chance that he-it could be in the forest watching our every move. Our footsteps echoed through the dead silence and Gerard shuffled closer to me with every step eventually wriggling his fingers so they could wrap around mine.  
  
The three of us almost stumbled out from the clutches of the trees and allowed the feeling of enclosure to dissipate as we breathed in air not thick with the scent of dirt. A light pink-orange glow peeked above tiled rooftops as sunrise encroached and the light of the upcoming day began to settle on the neighbourhood.  
  
“So,” Ray started, “where do you suppose we start looking?”  
  
Gerard looked up at me with tired, expectant eyes. There’s only one place left to look, “we’ll go to his house, we never came home last night, so god knows my mother will be fretting like mad about us, her and Donna ae most likely at my place.”  
  
“Well it’ll take us at least ten minutes, care to explain what the hell happened while I was gone? It’ll give us something to keep our minds busy while we walk,” Ray smiled slightly before stepping off the grass and onto the sidewalk.  
  
Gerard squeezed on my hand lightly and tugged as he moved alongside Ray. I sighed and cleared my throat before beginning, “Well it kind of all started when Mikey and I went for a walk after brunch…..”  
 **~*~**  “…and then we found you stuffed into that dumbwaiter,” I finished in perfect timing with arriving out the front of Mikey’s house. Gerard had interjected throughout the story but even down to the description of Bobs’ death Ray didn’t once change the bleak look almost etched into his face.  
  
“You know this sounds like a terrible horror movie plot line,” Ray said staring up at house, “not to mention, that Mikey is missing, there’s a possibly demonic version of me holding him captive, and at 7am in the morning the Way household is dead silent, something isn’t right.”  
  
“Or they’re just not home, Donna and Don probably stayed with my parents for the night.”  
  
Gerard hummed a little as his eyebrows knotted in thought, “Donna and Don, those names are so familiar. You said they’re Mikey’s adoptive parents right?”  
  
“Uh, I think so, he never spoke much about their situation. We can figure it out later, yeah?” Gerard nodded as I brushed my lips lightly over his temple, before heading up the front porch steps after Ray.  
  
“You think we should knock or..?” Ray trailed off shuffling awkwardly in front of the door.  
  
I shrugged, “I’ve never knocked before, not going to start now,” I wrapped my hand around the icy brass knob and pushed the open the door.  
  
A gush of fetid air swelled from within the house blowing the hair from my face. We all gagged on the pungency and I used the sleeve of my jumper to cover my mouth and nose in a failed attempt to reduce the scent. I ignored the increasing burn of my nostrils as I slowly stepped into the house, everything was normal, except for the smell.  
  
Ray coughed as we moved further into the house, “Christ, what is that smell?”  
  
Another small breeze whipped tendrils of hair away from my face, and Gerard took and awkward step forward.  
  
“The air is coming from down the corridor, Frank where does this hallway go?” he asked raising his nose and feeling the brush of the air caress his face.  
  
Ray spoke up before I had the chance to formulate and answer, “It’s his dad’s office, right?”  
  
I nodded as Ray moved forward. We stepped silently down the hallway side by side only stilling when we were faced with the oak door. A low moan dripped through the door bringing with it another wild gust of air that seemingly blew from nowhere. A loud slam made us all jump and spin quickly to see the front door now closed, and a small click followed as the latch slid into place successfully locking us inside the house. The light-bulbs lining the hallway began to crack and shatter, letting shards of glass rain over our bodies leaving small slices along the skin. We huddled closer together the blood dripping along our skin making the close proximity damp and sticky as the scarlet mixed together.  
  
I cursed under my breath, “Whatever it is, I think we pissed it off.” I felt Gerard’s hand latch onto my upper arm and squeeze tightly, his fingernails digging into the skin and beginning to tear through. I hissed, “Ouch, Gerard stop, you’re hurting me.”  
  
Gerard looked up at me confusedly, “Wha- I, I’m not touching you.”  
  
I felt my stomach churn and heave with sheer terror as I peered down to see to deformed hands tightly wrapped around my upper arms. Yellowing fingernails, at the end of rotting slender fingers with flesh peeled back exposing flesh and tendons, dug deeply into the pale skin splitting it with ease. A guttural scream scraped its way from the back of my throat as I tried to squirm free of the grip. The fingers only tightened and a forced ripped my entire body backwards into the cramped office. Loud noises erupted from my throat as I tried to launch forward toward Gerard’s outstretched arms but his figure was replaced by mahogany wood and a loud slam as the door closed in my face.  
  
Ignoring the pain form the gaping holes in my arms that were leaking with blood I ran forward and bashed my fists against the door yelling, “Gerard! Are you okay? Stay with Ray!”  
  
A small muffled response came, “I’m fine, Frank, what’s happening are you alright? The door’s locked from the inside!”  
  
I ran my fingers over the brass handle searching for any small latch or contraption in a terror stricken frenzy, my forehead was slick with perspiration as my breathing increased, “no, no, no, no, NO! There’s nothing. Oh god, no.” The rumble from Gerard’s banging stopped. I placed my ear up against the wood. Nothing. Silence.  
  
“No! Gerard! Gerard! Gee! Ray! Raymond fucking Toro! Can you hear me!?” I felt my lip begin to quiver but quickly sunk my teeth down to stop it. Not a chance in hell was I about to cry, not now.  
  
A low moan sounded from behind me. My breath hitched in my raw throat as I maneuvered my body around so that my back was still pressed up against the oak. I let out a small wail as my eyes laid on Mikey’s body. His slender frame was secured by rope at the wrists and ankles to the edges of his fathers’ desk. His skin was inflamed, red and angry, around the dozens of gashes across his bare chest. The usual milky white was besprinkled with the richness of the crimson, and black liquid dripped from the corner of his parted lips. Another low rumble reverbed throughout the room and I tore my eyes from Mikey’s face to the ghastly figure hunched over his bound body. Its hands were held above its head in a summoning manner.  
  
The myriad of candles lining the room and the table cast shadows to hide his complexion, and his figure flickered on the wall behind him. I pushed back farther against the door as I examined the distorted and haphazardly drawn symbol of an anthropomorphic horned beast adorned with human features, scrawled with the black liquid across the white of the wall.  
  
The cloaked clad figure raised its hands higher and began to mumble in a language I couldn’t decipher, “ _Nego Dei et omne sanctum. Hoc sacrificium pro vobis est. Eius sanguis est tua sunt. Ut iússisti.”  
_  
Mikey’s body began to writhe in throes of pain. His back arched from the desk and he cried out with a piteous scream, more black erupted from his mouth choking the onslaught of tortured screams. The figure continued to raise his voice as he chanted, “ _Nego Dei et omne sanctum. Hoc sacrificium pro vobis est. Eius sanguis est tua sunt. Ut iússisti.”  
_  
I felt my knees buckle seconds before the floor was rushing up to meet me. My head bounced as it slammed against the wood flooring. Mikey’s cries and his contorting body with the figure above with its hands stretched to the heavens began to warp and blur. My head was thrumming and I felt the warm trickle of blood seep from my nose, my ears, my tear ducts and the taste of bile rose from the back of my throat. I gagged and coughed spluttering the black ooze on the flooring below me.  
  
The small clink of metal captured my dazed attention as my hand fell beside me. I felt around and gripped tightly when the cool sting of metal hit my fingertips. Using my last seconds of energy I pulled my hand in front of my eyes and examined the small ring and chain in my palm. The tiny inscription of  _G.W_  stood stark against the shine of the silver. The memory of Gerard’s necklace, me passing out, and how he controlled it with his mind rushed through my deteriorating brain.  
  
I took one last glance at Mikey’s body and the figure, before closing my eyes and cradling the ring to my chest. I thought of Mikey. His stupid glasses and awkward knees. Of bob. His piercing blue eyes and rosy cheeks. Of Ray and his mass of hair. Of my parents. And lastly, I thought of Gerard. His lips, his smile, his tear stained face when we first met, how desperately he wanted his brother back and how I was going to bring Mikey back.  
  
The pull of the ring wrapped around my brain, taking hold of my thoughts and senses in its tight embrace. I lost all control, and was unaware and lax as the words slipped from my cracking lips,  _“Ex hoc nunc usque ad diem iudicii, vobis erit ad exterminandum, et nunquam mos vos reditum.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Latin should be correct, if there's an issue let me know! x


	13. Chapter 13

**_“Words were different when they lived inside you.” - Benjamin Alire Saenz_ **

**~*~ _  
_**

  
Everything hurt. It ached, burned, stung _, throbbed_. I twitched my finger and pain shot through the nerves in my arm instantaneously. The thought of even attempting to shift a body part was torturous enough to make me whimper. I could feel the pressure of a flat surface along one side of my body, and assumed that I was still on the floor of Mikey’s dads’ office. A heavy sensation lingered on my mind, my thoughts were slow, sluggish and took extra coaxing to become clear and explicit. As the sensations along my body returned, and the pain flared, so did the memories. I kept my eyes sealed shut as the images played through. The chanting, the figure, Mikey’s body. I took a sharp inhale as I remembered the ring. My hand clenched and the cool metal dug into my skin as my fingers tightened around the ring.   
  
I let an eyelid slip open as the light brush of warm air tickled along my cheek. A blurry patch of black and distorted cream swayed and gesticulated frantically. Slender fingers grasped onto my cheeks, holding my head in place, forcing me to look directly at the slowly clearing figure. The continual drone of sounds began to fragment and fit together, forming words and vernacular I could identify and decipher. Light dashes of warmth hit my forehead, one after the other, then trailed along the side of my face, leaving tingling trails in their wake.   
“Gerard! Can you please help me over here! Mikey may look light, but he’s a dead weight. Gerard? Gerard!” Ray voice rung through my ears.  
   
A choked sniffle came from Gerard who was still hovering above me, “Ray, he’s awake! Quick! Frank? Frankie! Are you okay? Can you talk? Move your hand or-just-do something, anything! Dammit Frank!”   
  
Ray appeared next to Gerard trying to shift him away. Gerard, of course, didn’t listen and didn’t move, so Ray worked around him. He tugged on my hand, and placed gentle pressure on the side of my neck.   
  
“Well at least your heart rate is back to normal,” he sighed, looking completely exhausted.   
  
“What do you mean-,” I regretted the decision to talk as soon as I had started, the rough scratch of the words as they made their way up from my throat threw me into a coughing fit. Gerard’s hands slipped under my body and began to hoist me up, I complied and tried to sit upright as much as possible. My lungs rattled with each cough, and the stiffness in my bones fought against the sudden jolting movements. Ray held a glass of water to my lips and I drank greedily, downing the glass in seconds. It didn’t cure the burn but it was enough for me to talking without wheezing.   
“Mikey, is, is Mikey alright?”   
  
Ray let out an irritated groan and glared at Gerard fussing over me, “he would be even better than ‘alright’ if you would help me get him off this damned desk!”  
  
Gerard scurried up to his feet, “sorry, sorry, uh what, where, here?” he fumbled over his words and he gestured and moved around Mikey’s, now unbound, body.   
  
“Gerard! Jesus, just hold his shoulders and neck, I’ll grab his legs and we’ll move him to the chaise, okay?”   
  
Gerard froze for a moment before nodding and then moving to assist Ray. I watched as Mikey’s lax body drooped in Gerard and Ray’s arms. The black ectoplasm like substance dripped from his lax body, adding to the puddles already on the floor. I leant forward subconsciously, trying to get closer, to see for myself that Mikey was in fact okay. His body was placed almost reverently down onto the chaise. He looked peaceful; maybe sleeping. But the anger of the seeping wounds across his chest was enough to ruin the illusion of any form of sleep. Gerard upon noticing my minuscule movements hurried back to my side, his hands rubbing soothingly up and down my spine as he buried his head in my hair.  
Ray kept his focus on Mikey’s unconscious form, lightly pushing the hair from his face. He didn’t look over at us when he began to speak, “we need to call someone, or get help or something.”   
  
I secured my arm around Gerard pulling him slightly closer to me, “and tell them what exactly?”   
  
“I don’t know! I don’t even know what the hell happened in here! Do you want to explain!?” Ray tried to be demanding, but his voice was shaky and desperate.   
  
Gerard twisted a little to look up at me, “you found his ring, didn’t you?”   
  
“Wha- how, how’d you know?” I asked a little dumfounded. Gerard was outside, he knew about as much as Ray did as to what had happened. He didn’t even know if Mikey still had his ring.   
  
“I saw, well not directly, but mentally, it was weird,” Gerard scrunched up his nose, “It was like I could see through your eyes, and control your body, but I couldn’t see your thoughts or anything. It’s how I got rid of that –“ Gerard paused and looked away.   
  
“What?” Ray pressed, “What, what thing? What was it?”   
  
“They liked to be called shadow people, but there not people as such, they’re demonic entities shaped as humans, that one was, I guess, relatively malevolent.”   
Ray snorted, “Relatively malevolent? Just a little bit?”   
  
“Usually they don’t pull stunts like this so openly, but this one had a purpose, he was using Mikey as a vessel to try and summon Belial.” Ray and I were silent, equally lost for words and confused. Gerard either didn’t notice or didn’t care, but continued to talk, “that’s why there is this black ectoplasm everywhere, and the candles, Mikey was to be a vessel for Belial and then a sacrifice in his honour.”   
  
“How do you know all this?” I asked not looking at him.  
  
“My Owner, he kept a lot of old folklore books lying around, and entity he had posing as Ray all this time, was the shadow person, just in a humanised form. Which is strange as usually they don’t change form.”   
  
“Clearly this one had a further purpose than serving that old creep, but this business with the ring?” Ray waved his hands, indicating for either one of us to elaborate.   
  
“Gerard and Mikey are brothers as you know, their mother gave them both rings with the others initials engraved, turns out they’re magical, and well, yeah” I said looking at Gerard, “although I don’t think even you knew that they were this powerful.”   
  
Gerard shook his head, “I had no idea, but if they can banish demons, and permanently, then they must be far more powerful that I even imagined. Especially if they’re used together.”   
  
Ray’s eyes widened almost comically, “wait! If these rings can do all that, then can you use them to rouse Mikey?”  
  
Gerard looked perplexed, “well I uh, I guess, the logistics make sense, so why not?” he moved his gaze back to me, “I need Mikey’s ring, Frank.” He held out his palm and I delicately dropped the ring and chain into his open hand.   
  
Gerard quickly shuffled over to kneel at Mikey’s side, “I’m not really sure what to do, but I guess I just need to focus the energy on him, you think that will work?” Gerard looked back us, and we shrugged in unison. He sighed and turned back to Mikey, hands dancing over Mikey’s body, almost surreptitiously moving the hair from his face, checking his pulse, and sweeping away any debris on his skin.   
  
Gerard placed Mikey’s hand over the one in which he concealed the rings, and pursed his lips in a tight line. His nose crinkled as his eyes screwed shut in concentration. A low humming buzzed from Gerard’s palm, a small white glow emitting from the cracks in his grip. Gerard gasped lightly as the glow began to seep from his hands. It lingered through the air, floating and slithering. It snaked its way around the permitter of Mikey’s body, giving him an ethereal glow; an aura. Gerard looked over his shoulder at us, “I don’t know what to do now, I’m trying to focus the energy on him but it’s not doing anything except giving him that weird glow,” slithers of hysterics rang on the end of his words.   
  
I glanced at Ray, he was leaning forward, and wringing his hands as though he was desperate to do something, but wasn’t sure what. I shambled toward Gerard a little on my knees and watched he flickering aura around Mikey continue to stream from Gerard’s enclosed hands.   
  
“Maybe you need to, like, focus the energy on Mikey waking up as well, picture it in your head or something,” Gerard’s eyebrows furrowed, “sorry, that was stupid,” I sank back a little.   
  
Ray clambered toward me a small smile on his lips, “No! No, Frank, that might work. Try it Gerard.”   
  
Gerard looked back at Mikey, and squeezed his eyes shut again. His grip tightened on the rings. The stream of light stopped abruptly, and the glow around Mikey got increasingly brighter.   
  
“Is it working?” Gerard asked without opening his eyes. The glow shifted, encapsulating Mikey’s body and began to seep into his slightly ajar mouth.   
  
I stared dumbly at Mikey, “I uh, I don’t know, you think that’s supposed to happen?”   
  
“What? What’s happening? I can’t open my eyes it’ll break the focus.”   
  
Choked gasps emitting from Mikey’s throat stopped me before I could answer. The irregular rising of his chest jolted as he began to hack and cough roughly. He sucked in a large breath, and then fell silent.   
  
Gerard unclasped his hands and opened his eyes looking down at Mikey. He pressed two fingers against Mikey’s neck and began to shake. His voice rattled as he spoke, “He’s not – there’s no – oh god, Mikey!”   
  
I gripped onto his biceps and pulled him away from Mikey, “Gerard – Gee, stop, you need to calm down.” Gerard continued to wriggle in my grip and try to pull away.   
  
“What if I killed him? Oh god, Frank, what have I done?” Gerard finally stopped moving, but broke down in tears instead. He relaxed into my hold trying to his face in my shirt, while dampening it with his incoherent mumbling and tears. I cooed gently in his ear, trying to calm him. Mikey wasn’t dead. Gerard didn’t kill him. It’s impossible. No.   
  
Ray slapped my arm, and I was seconds away from hissing at him from doing so, before I saw where his gaze was lingering. I turned my heard, keeping Gerard’s face hidden in my shirt, and almost shrieked with what I saw. Mikey was sat upright, looking dazed and in an aching pain similar to the one I was in when I awoke. He ran his hands along his chest, hissing when he applied to much pressure to a certain cut and looking completely perplexed and little horrified at the mutilations. He turned to see Ray looking completely shocked, me looking in disbelief and Gerard cowering into me like a child. Mikey looked confusedly at all of us, not sure what to say or do, but Gerard shifted in my arms and caught sight of his figure.   
  
“Mikey!” he cried and threw himself at his brother holding him close, “oh my god, Mikey, fuck, I thought I’d killed you.” Gerard kept his grip tight around Mikey’s shoulders. Mikey relaxed into the embrace, and placed his arms around Gerard’s middle. The small glint of light reflected in the tear tracks than began to forge their way down his discoloured cheeks. It was only then I realised how terrified Mikey must be. He woke up with presumably very little memory and his body in aching pain and covered in hundreds of wounds and cuts. All this, as well as everything he did remember, which could be a lot, or nothing. I wasn’t sure which was worse. Mikey pulled away from Gerard, and looked around. He recoiled one he caught sight of Ray and the small smile disappeared from Ray’s face. He looked completely dejected at Mikey’s hesitance toward him.   
  
“It’s alright Mikey. Ray’s not an ass anymore. Well, he’s not as much of an ass,” I smirked a little as Mikey’s lips tugged up into a smile.   
  
Ray scowled at me, “fuck you, Iero. You know damn well that wasn’t me.”   
  
Mikey’s voice was dry and hoarse when he spoke up, “I know it wasn’t you. It’s just weird seeing you here, after…y’know,” he paused to let us finish off for him.   
  
“We don’t actually know anything, Mikey. We know you went missing, and that you were being used to invigorate a demon. B-something, what was it, Gerard?” I turned to Gerard waiting for an answer.   
  
Gerard hesitated for a moment, “Belial?”   
  
The second the word left Gerard’s lips Mikey arched his back and hissed in pain. The welts and cuts along his skin looked angry and irritated and some began to weep blood as they reopened. Mikey mewled in Gerard’s arms, still feeling the aftershock of the ignition of sudden pain. Gerard looked horrified and tried to quiet Mikey’s pained murmurs, rubbing his hands soothingly along his arms.   
  
“Okay,” Ray broke the silence looking far too calm, “nobody say, you know what, when Mikey is in the area.”   
  
“But, I don’t understand, we said it before and nothing happened?” It came out as more of a question than I would have liked, but it just didn’t make sense. Nothing made any fucking sense.   
  
Ray stood, and awkwardly shifted on his feet for a moment before sighing, “I’m going to go to see if your parents are next door at Frank’s place.”   
  
I got to my feet ignoring Mikey’s small nod of approval, “you can’t just leave and go there by yourself, what if, y’know, things aren’t-“  
  
“Right?” Ray quirked and eyebrow at me.   
  
“Well, yeah, I guess that’s the best way to put it.”   
  
“Doesn’t matter, Frank. We have to check in on them sooner or later, besides if they’re in trouble I’d rather we do something quickly instead of leaving them any longer.”   
  
I didn’t argue as Ray moved to the doorway, “I think you should come with me.”  
  
“What? Why?” I was a little shocked that Ray had even asked, considering he knew I wanted nothing to do with that situation at the moment. Ignorance was far more appealing.   
  
“You said yourself, I shouldn’t go alone. Besides, your parents are there too, Frank. You should want to check on them, and I think we should leave Mikey and Gerard alone, they've got a lot to catch up on with one another.”   
  
I looked at Gerard for confirmation. He smiled and nodded, “it’s alright Frank. Ray’s right.”   
  
Ray left the room and I hurried to follow close behind him. The sun had fully risen and bathed us in a gentle warmth as we stepped out of the shadow of the house. The small murmur of morning noise was a welcome change from the tense silence that the night held. Mothers were busy chatting as they pushed strollers along the side walk, people were running alongside their dogs, and cars slowly meandered past with bleary eyed drivers in suits. It was a regular morning for everyone else I suppose. The elderly lady who owned the small weatherboard house next to Mikey smiled and waved at us as we made our way down the front path. It was unsettling, the brightness and genuine happiness in her smile; totally oblivious to what had happened in that house. We grinned back and bid her a good morning, as far as she knew, we just spent the night, as friends do.   
  
Ray huffed a little when we stepped up to my front door, “you wouldn’t happen to have a key on you by any chance?”   
  
“Don’t need one,” I smiled and pushed on the door that was slightly ajar, “looks like our friend forgot to lock the door on his way out.”   
  
The floorboards creaked as we tried to tip toe down the hallway silently. Everything seemed normal, nothing was shifted or out of place. But the closer to the kitchen we got the more things just didn’t seem right. The air had a distinctive nip to it causing goose bumps to appear all over my skin.   
  
“Can you feel that?” I asked rubbing my hands up my arms to try and warm them, “It’s ridiculously cold in here.”   
  
“It smells really bad too,” Ray scrunched his nose in disgust.   
  
I was about to protest when a wave of fetid air seemed to drift from the kitchen. Instantly I placed my sleeved arm over my nose and mouth to reduce the smell. The air became acidic and stung at my eyes as we moved closer to the kitchen.   
  
“Christ, that is fucking toxic,” I whined, my voice muffled from the sleeve. Ray hummed in agreement and stepped past me to the entrance of the kitchen.   
  
His body tensed as he stopped in the doorway, “Frank, come here.”   
  
I froze just as Ray did when I raked my eyes over the kitchen. Mikey’s and mine’s parents were sprawled out on the floor, chests rising and falling slowly. Their eyes had deep purple and black bags hanging below them, as though they hadn’t slept in days, and they held a frightening pallor across their skin. The kitchen itself was coated thickly in the black ectoplasm. It seemed to leak from the gashes in the dry wall, and seep from the cupboards. Puddles mottled the floor and the rancid smell seemed to emit from the few that held a green tinge.   
  
I scurried around the puddles, and dropped to my knees next to my mother. Small laboured breaths escaped her lipstick smeared lips as I shook her sleeping form. “Mum, mum come on wake up. Mum!” I was seconds away from yelling at her when Ray’s hand clamped down on my shoulder.   
  
He looked at me almost piteously, “We should move them into the lounge room, so they’re somewhere more comfortable when they wake up.” He didn’t wait for confirmation before he scooped my mother’s body up and carried her out of the kitchen in his arms. We moved the rest of the bodies placing each once carefully on the couch and wrapped them in blankets. The cold air still hung around, sending small chills up my back every time it brushed against my skin.   
  
I sighed as I placed a blanket over my father’s sleeping frame, “what are we going to tell them when they wake up?”  
  
Ray just shrugged, “drank too much? I don’t know.”   
  
“Somehow I don’t think that a ‘Sunday roast dinner’ turned into ‘passed out drunk on couch’ will be believable.”   
  
“Get some wine bottles or liquor bottles, empty them and leave them around on the floor, and some glasses to, make them looked used as well.”   
  
“Huh, well I guess that could work. They can’t really deny getting wasted, especially if there is alcohol everywhere.”  
   
We searched the house and placed every empty, or half so, alcohol bottle haphazardly around the room, and a few glasses spilt on the coffee table.   
“I can’t help but feel a little guilty, my mother is going to freak out about thinking she got so drunk,” I said looking upon the scene.   
  
“Least she won’t have a hangover,” Ray smiled at me. I tried to hold back, but accidently let out an obnoxiously loud snort of laughter which made Ray start giggling like an idiot.   
For a moment it was easy to be swept away with the sound and the light airy feeling that laughter brought on. Ignoring everything, what had happened, what was still left unexplained, it was easy to just forget it. Forget everything. And just laugh. Laugh like an idiot alongside your friend - surrounded by your unconscious parents. I scowled at myself, because way to dampen the fucking mood, and tried to ignore Ray as he wiped tears from his eyes while fighting back the occasional giggle.   
  
“Come on, we should get back to Gerard and Mikey,” I pulled Ray alongside me as he smiled dopily at nothing, “and will you quit smiling. You’re freaking me out.”  
  
Ray’s smiled widened, “sorry, it’s honestly not even funny, I don’t actually know why I’m laughing.”   
  
 **~*~**

  
Ray and I were completely taken aback when we re-entered the Way’s office. Mikey was standing, with Gerard holding onto his arm for support, and his skin was completely clear. Every single discolouration, bruise, scratch and mark, was replace with pure untainted skin.   
Mikey beamed at us as we look in awe at his skin, “I know! It’s awesome isn’t it? Gerard did it with those rings. I wish I’d known they were like magical or whatever, mine would have come in handy.”   
  
“So I guess Gerard explained everything?” Ray asked.   
  
“Yep, sure did. I’m still a little freaked out about the whole thing, but,” Mikey looked at Gerard affectionately, “I got my brother back.” Gerard smiled with glassy eyes and let Mikey take him in a tight hug. “I missed you so much Gee, and I never forgot what happened, to us, to mum. I did forget what you looked like, but when I saw you that day in Frank’s room, I thought I had gone crazy, you looked so familiar. I’d convinced myself I’d never see you again.”  
  
Gerard closed his eyes and tightened his grip on Mikey, “so did I. So did I.”   
  
Ray nudged my shoulder and nodded toward Mikey and Gerard embracing, “well, this is awkward.”   
  
I started laughing as Ray grinned and shuffled uncomfortably, “fucking hell Toro, totally ruined brotherly love moment.” Gerard and Mikey started giggling too, and had to detach themselves from one another.   
  
Ray’s cheeks took on a crimson hue, “sorry.” Mikey gestured for Ray to come to his side and they began to whisper and laugh at things neither Gerard nor I understood.   
  
Gerard moved away from Mikey, coming up next to me and lazily entwining our fingers. He placed a feather light kiss to my cheek and rested his head against my shoulder.   
  
“You think this is finally over? That we can be normal?” He whispered watching Ray and Mikey continue to laugh.   
  
I let my head loll to rest against his smiling contentedly, “I think it’s over, but I don’t think we’ll ever be normal.”   
  
We stood resting against each other in silence watching Mikey begin to tug at random strays of Ray’s hair just to wait for him to get all flustered and angry.   
  
Gerard let out a small high pitched giggle and nestled closer to me, “yeah, neither do I.”   



End file.
